Tales from the Desert
by Life-Is-Insanity
Summary: A collection of one-shots taking place after ROTF. Next up: Leo, riding in Bumblebee with Sam and Mikaela, becomes bored on the way to Petra. So he decides he wants to learn more about the Autobots. But of course, nothing goes as planned.
1. Welcome Back

_**Tales from the Desert**_

**A collection of one-shots that all take place after Revenge of the Fallen. They wouldn't really go in any sort of order unless I say otherwise. Most of them will take place right after the battle in Egypt but before everyone is boarded on the ship. Hence the title. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers. Simple as that.**

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Bumblebee knew that what he was thinking about doing was going to earn him a one-way-ticket to the top of Skids and Mudflap 'mech's-to-make-fun-of' list. Probably Sideswipes too. Ironhide, for sure, was going to use every chance the weapon specialist got to blackmail him with it, which was fine (A few reminders to him about the time with to much high-grade and a sparkless drone would shut him the slag up). Bumblebee just hoped that Ratchet wouldn't drag him into the medbay at the NEST base for a full processor scan.

He didn't think his audio receptors could handle all the swearing.

_Come on…_

Standing at the back of the cluster of Autobots welcoming back there newly revived leader, Bumblebee kept one optic trained on his human charge (currently being treated by the medical officers) while he ran a vital scan to reassure himself that Sam's heart was still beating and wasn't going to give out anytime soon. The experience of seeing Sam lying supposedly dead on the desert floor, Mikaela screaming in grief, beside the body of the last Prime… the pain he had felt in his spark was a hundred times worse then Tyger Pax and wasn't something he wanted to go through again.

Shaking his head to clear away the images that kept flashing before his optics, Bumblebee was slightly startled to find all the 'bots staring at him as though expecting him to answer an unheard question. Blinking a couple of times he played a clip from an old movie.

" _You say something…?" _

Ratchet and Ironhide exchanged a glace with one another concern written on both there faceplates. Being a scout, he was trained not to miss any sort of noise or spoken word. Gathering intelligence was what he was meant to do, so it only made sense he would hear everything. That he had missed something was of some alarm- at least to everyone besides Prime, who was trying to hide a smile, and the twins.

The embarrassing thought continued to nag him all the while.

"We was jus' askin' ya what was up wit' tha' weird look on your faceplate, man," Mudflap told him, pushing Skids away from attempting to dump a large handful of sand on his head. " An' don't even ya stupid idiot!"

"Who's ya callin' an idiot, idiot!" Skids shot back at his twin and pushed him even harder. The result of this was the twins rolling away from the other Autobots both of them focused on punching the other out. Bumblebee resisted the urge to grab them by their neck joints and bash the heads together like he had in the Tomb of the Primes.

(Though it was very, very hard not to.)

_Come on , you can do it…_

Ratchet merely looked after them in disgust before walking up to him, digits transforming into various laser scalpels. Bumblebee twittered at the approaching medic and tried to back away from him. He wasn't so lucky. Ratchet had him in a gentle headlock before he had taken more then two steps. He clicked and twittered even more when he felt Ratchets fingers poke through his exposed wiring and attempted to worm his way out of his grasp.

The thought continued to grow… He was an Autobot for Primus' sake! Something like this shouldn't scare him so badly. All he had to do was suck up the courage and go for it. Get it over and done with. But the more he considered doing it, the more his spark quivered in its casing.

"Hmmm… Ravage may have damaged your audio receptors when he was biting your head plating," Ratchet mused, reattaching some wires Bumblebee didn't even know about. "You should have said something earlier 'Bee."

Ironhide growled in agreement.

000.5 seconds later, the same thing he had just heard rolled in front of his optic's.

'_I can hear just fine Ratchet,' _Bumblebee told the medic via comm link, '_I was just focusing on something else _(two things actually, he added privately)_ and didn't hear what you guys were asking.'_

Bumblebee could tell that Ratchet knew what he had been focusing on (one of them, anyway) and was grateful to the medic when he didn't start to immediately ask questions about it. He didn't feel up to answering them or sharing how he felt. Ratchet just grumbled to himself, finished poking around in his head wiring, and let him out of the headlock.

"All right, but once I'm done with Optimus and Ironhide, you're next and there's nothing you can fragging do about. Understood?" Ratchet snarled at him and turned back to Prime, presumably getting ready to treat him. '_And I'll take a look at Sam once he's done with the human medic, too. Primus knows their going to miss something important." _Ratchet added in private to him.

Bumblebee nodded his head. _Come on, you can to it. You've faced off Decepticons, you can to this! Come on. There's nothing to be afraid of. Nothing at all…_

He clicked to himself nervously, the doors on his back fluttering slightly. His spark quivered even more in his chest as he fell into step behind Optimus -being lead away to a small clearing by Ratchet- and Ironhide, who was holding one of his forearm cannons. He would have to do it soon. _Nothing to be afraid of…_

Ratchet point Prime to the middle of the small clearing, walking away to go and collect bits and pieces of the dead Seeker. Bumblebee stopped at the edge, sucked in a vent full of air to try and calm his flustered nerves, and shyly marched up to his leader. Ironhide was standing beside him, probably filling him in on some of the things he missed. Bumblebee nerves doubled with Ironhide standing in such a close range to Optimus and he almost decided to forget his plan.

Almost.

_You can to this, you can do this, you can to this…._

"… and to the best of my knowledge that pit-slagged son-of-a-glitch was pushed out of the back of the cargo plane by Lennox just before we arrived in this forsaken place…"

He wondered what Ironhide was talking about but decided to wait until later to ask him.

Bumblebee stopped right beside Optimus, vents working hard to keep his frame from over-heating. _You can to this. _Raising a slight shaking digit he tapped Prime gently on his wrist. _You can do this._

Optimus turned to look at him, his faceplate twisting into a smile. Bumblebee stepped slightly in front of him, spark getting ready to explode out of its casing.

_Nothing to be afraid of…_

"Hello Bumblebee," Prime said, voice sounding tired and completely happy at the same time.

He sucked in another vent full of air and 'went in for the kill.'

'_I.. just wanted to say, sir, ummm… I'm glad your back.' _Steadying himself, he moved forward…

…and hugged Optimus around the waist.

Bumblebee heard Ironhide draw in a shocked vent of air, Ratchet drop what-ever he had been currently holding, and Skids and Mudflap starting to snicker in the background. He knew this had been a bad idea from the moment it had formed in his processor and he started to feel embarrassment creep into his spark at what he was currently doing. _Bad idea, bad idea! This was a bad idea! Oh Primus…_

Until he felt Optimus place a hand on his head and the rumble of his laughter shake his giant frame. "By far the best welcome back I have gotten yet, little one." The hand on his head rubbed circles around his audio receptors and Bumblebee clicked happily. "Thank-you."

Still clicking away happily, he let go of Prime, clasped his hands behind his back and replied via comm link, _'Welcome, sir."_

"Hate to break this up," came Ratchets slight awed voice, "But you still have a gapping hole in your chest that needs fixing Prime."

Optimus chuckled, "Of course."

Prime gave Bumblebee's head a final stroke and followed Ratchet over to were everything was laid out.

Bumblebee continued to smile, his spark warm in his chest. It was silly of him to believe there was something to be afraid of.

He felt Ironhide step over to stand beside him, his cannon held at his side. A private comm link request popped up in front of his optic's. Still twittering, he accepted it.

'_You do realize that the twins are never going to let you live this down?' _Ironhide sent. _'Neither is Sideswipe, for that matter.'_

Somehow, Bumblebee decided not to care.

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**And my first ever one-shot is done. Yay!**

**Hopefully I didn't butcher the Autobots to much. If I did, sorry. I'll work on it.**

**The idea for Bumblebee to hug Optimus came from the only **_**G1 **_**cartoon I saw. Can't remember what happened in it, except at the end were 'Bee basically glomps Prime. And I thought, "Damn. That's adorable."**

**Arcee isn't featured in this because I figured she was in a recharge with her sisters after having their aft's kicked by a couple of missiles in the movie. And all I know about Sideswipe was that he was a Chevrolet Stingray.**

**Ratchet would want to drag 'Bee to the medbay, by the way, because I wouldn't think it normal for Bumblebee to go around hugging people. **

**A cyber-cookie for anyone who can figure out what part Ironhide is telling Optimus about. **

**Review please. Tell me if it was okay. Where I need to fix it. Whether you liked it or not. So forth.**

**Thank-you!**


	2. Nightmares

_**Tales from the Desert**_

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter :D And everyone who guessed correctly about what Ironhide was talking about gets a cyber-cookie ( Gives out the cookies) Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers. Simple as that.**

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_They were so beautiful. So very beautiful. More beautiful then all the stars. How could he have thought them to be horrid, ugly? He smiled at his own blindness. They were the most wonderful things in the universe._

_The strange symbols danced before his eyes, coming and going as though written in the air with a sparkler. Intrigued, he stood rooted to the spot. Watching the symbols was all that mattered to him now. Nothing else. They we're dancing as far as he could see. Sometimes one would come so close to his face he could feel the heat radiating from it and the heat felt so wonderful he would whimper slightly when it disappeared. Come back, he wanted to whisper. Come back…_

_After a while of watching the symbols come and go, he noticed that the blackness around him was filling with an almost silent whisper. He frowned. For the first time he tore his attention from the dancing beauties and tried to focus on the whispered words. What was it say? Where was the whispering coming from? He needed to know. Needed it so much his chest hurt._

_He took a staggering step forward, hoping that the whisper-er would show oneself. But nothing changed. Another step. Nothing. He stopped and turned on the spot. Nothing but him and the beauties. Yet the whispering continued. Where was it coming from?_

_As he stood, enchanted again by the symbols, a beauty appeared close to his face. He sighed happily as the heat touched his face. But then he heard the whispering even louder then before, as though it was right behind him. He whipped around, the beauty moving with him. No one was there._

_But as the beauty vanished so did the loud whispering. It dawned on him that his wonderful symbols were the ones whispering. He should have realised this from the moment the whispering started. Who else was here but him and the symbols?_

_When he had come to the answer concerning the whispers suddenly he could hear each of them in perfect clarity. He sucked in a breath._

_Some made sounds he could never have hoped to imitate, others muttered words that he would never understand. He could hear some chime such a lovely tune he could feel tears form in the corners of his eyes. He moved among them enchanted now by both their sounds and beauty. Most spoke to him in his own language telling him secrets only he would know, information that human scientist would never reach, facts about a planet he would never see. It left him breathless, his heart fluttering in his chest. He wanted them to stay forever and continue to mutter wonderful things to him._

_Come and find me…_

_He looked over his shoulder. This voice was even louder and sounded far more delicate then his other beauties. _

_Come and find me… _

_Turing completely he started to run in the direction of the voice, pushing the other symbols out of his way. It wasn't disappearing like the others. He would catch it and keep it with him forever. Hold it in his hands and feel the warmth radiate from it. He could feel excitement rise in his stomach. Where was his symbol?_

_This way…_

_There! There it was, floating stationary while glowing brightly. His heart melt at the sight of it. This symbol was far more beautiful then all the other ones. He skidded to a stop in front of it, excitement making him tremble. He starred at his symbol for a moment drinking in the look of it. Then he slowly reached out a shaking hand to grab it. He wanted to know what it felt like so badly. His middle finger made contact with the symbol and he marvelled at the smoothness of it._

_But then something happened that had him wishing he had never touched the stationary symbol, that he had remained listening to the others and had not followed the too delicate voice._

_He was thrown away from the symbol as though someone had kicked him in the stomach and he could feel a burning in his torso as though there was liquid fire covering him. He hit the ground screaming, wishing the horrible pain would stop, crying out for someone to come and help him. He squeezed his eyes closed and screamed louder._

_Then he chocked, some many legged creature suddenly crawling around in his mouth and trying to get down his throat. He could tasted metal on his tongue and a weird slime. Another creature was walking around on his chest, clicking to itself in satisfaction. He went to push it off of him only to find his hands restrained._

_What was going on?! Where were his symbols?_

_Quickly opening his eyes, he saw to his horror that he was back in the warehouse, strapped to a table. No, no, no… The thing in his mouth now started to slither up towards brain, tearing away the skin in his mouth. He tried to push it out with his tongue, needed to get it out of his mouth, only to find that there was nothing there at all. Yet he could still feel it crawling, tasted the blood that filled his mouth. He sobbed in agony._

_Why weren't Mikaela or Leo helping him? Or Bumblebee? Optimus?_

_Suddenly, the symbols weren't beautiful anymore. He wished that he had not fallen for their fake beauty, that he had just closed his eyes to them and not given them a second thought. They had lured him, played with him until he was back in hell._

_He tried to pull his hands out of the metal restrains, withering in place when the thing on his chest scratched with its claws at the still painful burns on his torso. He felt cuts open on his face without the aid of any sharp object, the fingers on his hands break slowly by some invisible force. Oh god, make it stop!_

_And then it truly became hell when the Devil stepped into his line of sight, grinning down at him in evil pleasure, those dark red eyes glinting at the sight of his torture. _

_He realized that no one was coming to save him. Not this time. He sobbed and the Devil laughed at his distress._

_Beyond the Devil's head, as the Devil got ready to end his life, he could see the traitor symbols._

_Dancing in the air. _

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**Hmmm…. Well this certainly spiralled out of control… way outta control…**

**Original idea: He has a nightmare, wakes up, goes for a walk around the make-shift camp and has a talk with, oh, Lennox. **

**And then BAM! This is born instead. **

**Oh well. **

**Poor, poor Sam. All alone in his nightmare. No one to help him. No one to save him.**

**Also, I have no idea why Sam is pulling a Gollum on the symbols.**

**Review please!**


	3. In the Know

**Authors Note: I was thinking of continuing **_**Nightmares. **_**Make it into a two-shot, stick with my original plan and all that. Or should I just keep it as a one-shot? Let me know what you guys think, all right?**

**Warning: There's some swearing going on. And I mean swearing. A couple f-bombs is the worsted. **

**Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers. Simple as that.**

* * *

Leo was exhausted. The _I-wanna-fall-flat-on-my-face-and-sleep-for-the-next-week _exhausted. He didn't care if the only thing to fall face first into was a pile of pissed soaked rags, just as long as he could shut out the world and try to forget what the hell had just happened. Not that he ever would, but it would be nice for the timing being.

Stumbling after the twin aliens (How could aliens be twins anyway?) and the ex-agent Simmons aka Robowarrior, Leo wondered what was going to happen now. Nothing would go back to normal, he knew _that _much. But how could he go on knowing that aliens existed, were actually living on their planet, and were at war with one another? It was different then sitting behind a keyboard and a monitor posting things on his website _suggesting _that aliens were real and fighting. At least there he was safe and not in danger. Now he was in the know. What the hell was he going to do?

Sure, Leo had dreamed of meeting beings from a different planet. Spent hours planning on what he was going to say and how. Praying that he would be the first to come in contact with them and that perhaps it would gain him a world-wide celebrity stasis plus a drop-dead gorgeous girl to hang off of his arm. That the aliens would be _peaceful_.

But like…_ fuck. _

Yes, he had gotten to have one of his life wished fulfilled. Yes, it was awesome ( Something he could not have denied) But Leo could have done without all the guns firing, the messed up plasma blasts, running repeatedly from some monster, flashing from one side of the world to the other, tazering himself in the nuts, being knocked unconscious by a tazer, and witnessing a giant fucking _thing _suck people up only to have them spewed out the back nothing more then a smoothie of flesh and blood.

Leo decided that when he met Samuel Witwicky either fate had been smiling upon him- or punishing him.

The sun was setting fast (thank god it hadn't been blown to nothing) and Leo could feel goose bumps starting to raise on his exposed skin. He had forgotten how quickly it became cold in the desert when the sun was setting and the light jacket Leo was wearing was offering no sort of warmth. Crossing his arms in an attempt to warm himself up, Leo jogged shakingly up to Robowarrior (_Simmons, his name was Simmons_) who was arguing with the two robots.

"Why can't you two just transform and _drive _us there instead of making us walk?" Simmons demanded, "Do you know how sore I am right now?!"

" Yo, man, why don't you try changin' shape when half your fraggin' shin plates bein' blown ta shit," the green one, Skids, resorted, "Not ta mention we got sand in place there ain't suppose to be sand."

Mudflap snorted, "Also, we don't wanna have another reason to be pissin' off the Hatchet. He bad enough when it comes to slag like 'tis." To get his point across, Mudflap waved the door he was carrying and motioned to his near useless right arm.

Simmons opened his mouth but before he could get a syllable out Leo decided to ask a question. Maybe he could get some information on the other robots.

"Hatchet? Is that another alien?" He asked.

"Wha' you think, Chia head." Mudflap said, "Just you ain't go callin' him Hatchet to his face or else you'll have a wrench upside your head."

_That was nice to know._

Leo looked between the twins confusion written on his face. "He doesn't like his name or something?"

"Man, he don't like his nickname," Mudflap said.

"Real name is Ratchet. Call 'im that when he's in audio shot," Skids told him, "But when he outta shot call 'im Hatchet."

Simmons made an impatient sound and pushed Leo out of the way. Leo all but hissed at him, muttering, "What the fuck."

"Do you two even _know _where it is we're suppose to go?"

The Twins stopped walking and looked down at Simmons, two identical grins spreading across their face plates. Leo backed way from Robowarrior. He had come to know those looks well over the past couple of days.

"Look at 'tis Skids. Simmons is bein' impatient." Mudflap said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, man. We should do somethin' to 'im." snickered Skids.

"OI! No one is going to do anything to me, understood?!" Simmons said loudly.

"Somethin' crawled up his ass and decide ta pitch a tent. No one talks to ta twins like tha'."

Leo rubbed a hand over his eyes. This was starting to become bullshit. Could the aliens not see that the sun was setting? It was almost below the horizon now and the temperature was dropping fast. He didn't feel like freezing his ass off tonight or having to spent it sleeping next to Simmons again (He shuddered at the thought of last night). Thinking sadly about his warm and comfy bed on the other side of the planet, something he was sure had been destroyed by Alice, Leo stepped forward to intervene. Simmons and the Twins were in an all out shouting match by now, probably seeing who could get the most insults out. He took in a breath but before he could say anything another voice was all ready shouting.

"SKIDS! MUDFLAP! _There _you two are! Primus. Everyone was wondering whether or not you two had been slagged." A blue car pulled up to them, dents and scratches visible on its surface. One of the doors opened and a solider stepped out, gun strapped to his side. Heart beating a little faster at the sight if the weapon, Leo assumed this is who had shouted out. But then the car twisted and turned until it was looming above them and Leo realized that he was in the presence of another alien.

" 'course we haven't been slagged, Jolt," The red twin said, turning away from Simmons. "It would take more then tha' to take us outta the game."

Simmons snorted.

The blue alien, Jolt, nodded. "Come on, then. I'm suppose to take you back to camp. Ratchet wants to take a look at you two. And there's a couple of medic's waiting for the humans too." He paused. "You two are the humans Sam mentioned, right? Leo and Simmons?"

"Of course we are." Simmons snapped. Leo wanted to hit him for the way he was talking. You weren't suppose to talk to an alien like that! If they got mad enough all they had to do was step on you and it was over. At least this one could be understood properly and you didn't have to answer to songs being played over the radio or figure out what the hell Skids and Mudflap just said.

Jolt just blinked down at Simmons and didn't seem to care at the tone in Simmons voice. "I've been warned by Sam about you." he said simply, transforming back into a car.

"Oh yeah? And what did Wonder-boy say?"

In answer, the doors clicked open. Leo wanted to sigh in relief and stumbled over to climb in. Thank god for not having to walk anymore. He was pretty sure his legs would have given if he walk another mile. But just before he got in it hit him that he was about to climb into an aliens body. When Leo had been in the Camero or one of the twins it wasn't something that had concerned him. There had been more pressing matters at hand then to freak over the fact he had been sitting in an alien. But now that Leo was aware of it, he hesitated to get in.

"Its all right. You can get in." Jolts voice said, coming from the speakers. The solider was already seated behind the wheel and was looking at him with a mixture sympathy and impatients. Leo flushed and climbed into the backseat, making sure to knock his shoes together so that he wouldn't bring more sand into the interior. Simmons climbed into the passenger seat and the door closed by itself.

"Where's we suppose ta go?" Skids asked.

A flurry of mechanical sound come from Jolt and Leo wondered if he was having some form of a break down. But Skids and Mudflap answered in the same way before walking off in the direction Leo assumed the camp to be. Jolt performed a u-turn and followed after them.

"I'll just ask Wonder-boy what he said about me, since your not." said Simmons.

"Sam will most likely be unable to answer any questions at the moment." Jolt informed him. "The human medic's have given him those chemical drugs called 'painkillers.' "

Leo saw Simmons shift his head to stare at the radio. "Why? The boy get shot or something?" Hell, there was _concern_ in Simmons voice. Leo didn't think it possible.

"Something to that degree," Jolt sounded uncertain as though wanting to say more. "You'll see when we get back to camp and any more questions you wish to ask will be answered there."

Good. Leo decided that it was time he got some answers- and then maybe some sleep.

* * *

Camp turned out to be nothing more then a couple of brick huts with bon fires around them. A dozen men were scattered around them, some fast asleep, others checking over their weapons. Most were walking around either to uneasy to be sitting still or reporting to different people. Though Leo could see a couple nursing some heavy injuries.

Walking up the small hill, they were greeted by a medical team that whisked them off for treatment. Leo knew he didn't have any serious injuries, just some bruises and some scratches, and he tried to tell them this but the medic waved him off saying it was a mandatory procedure. Leo huffed and let them continue. He didn't want to sit here, he wanted to hunt down Sam and Mikaela and get some fucking answers!

"Well, well…Hello Captain Lennox." drawled Simmons from Leo's left. He turned and saw that someone had approached when he had been trying to tell the medic off. Leo pegged him to be ten years older then himself and from the way the medic nodded to him in respect was the one running the operations around here.

Lennox looked at Simmons. "It's Major Lennox now, _Mr _Simmons."

Huh. From the way Lennox said it, him and Simmons had worked together before and hated every minute of it.

Simmons growled, and Leo snickered at the look that crossed his face. The Major turned to look at him. "You must be Leo Spitz, right?" Lennox asked kindly, "Sam mentioned you."

"Uh.. Yeah, I'm Leo," he answered, then added "Sir."

Lennox smiled. "I'm Major William Lennox. After the medic's have let you go, I'll take you to Sam and Mikaela. They'll be able to answer anything you have to ask and maybe introduce you to the rest of the 'bots."

"Mikaela might have to answer most of your questions though," a tall, dark skinned man said walking up to stand beside Lennox. "Sam looks like he might pass out at any moment. Bumblebee is concerned but Ratchet just said it was the pain killer gettin' to him."

"Leo, Epps. Epps, Leo." Lennox said. They nodded to each other.

"Why's the kid on pain killers anyway?" Simmons asked.

"Once you see him, you'll know why." Epps answered. "He's gotta be one of the most injured here."

Leo stood up, and pushing the protesting medic away from him, said "Okay. I'd like to see them now."

The Major raised an eyebrow and turned to look at the medical officer. "Is he all right to leave?"

"I believe so, sir, but I would really like-"

Lennox clapped is hands together. "Well, if you say he's all right to leave, then he is," he said, far to cheerful in Leo's opinion. "C'mon then. I'll take you to see Sam and Mikaela."

"Wait, wait! I'm coming to and you can't stop me." Simmons said, jumping to his feet. Lennox rolled his eyes but didn't protest against it.

The Major lead them quickly through the make-shift camp, heading towards a large clearing in the middle. Leo stumbled to keep up with him and marvelled at the fact that a guy who went through twice as much then he did, hell more then twice, could keep a pace like that. Not to mention that he also had twenty pounds of equipment on him. Damn it. Leo was at least thankful that he wasn't the only one who was having a hard time keeping up with Lennox. Simmons looked ready to collapse.

As they drew closer to the clearing, the sound of metal on metal could be heard along with a voice swearing as though there was no tomorrow. Leo stopped in his tracks, thinking that maybe the fighting wasn't over, but Simmons said from behind him, "Its just the robots psycho-medic, kid. Those fucking twins already told you about him."

Right. Ratchet. Leo nodded and moved forward. Excitement and fear began to boil in his stomach. He was about to meet more of the I-can-kill-you-in-a-second aliens. He didn't know whether he should run away screaming or cry from happiness.

"Fraggit, Ironhide! Stop fidgeting like a sparkling for Primus sake! I'm only re-attaching you slagging cannon!" came Ratchets irritated voice.

"You should to what he says 'Hide." Lennox called out, walking into the clearing.

"_You _don't have some half crazed medic on you holding a wielding torch!" snarled out an equally irritated voice. "And stop laughing, Prime!"

"Ironhide, I assure I was _not _laughing."

"No, I was pretty sure you were laughin', Optimus." slurred out Sam's voice.

"_I can't stop laughing, I can't stop laughing, I can't stop laughing…"_

"I agree with 'Bee and Sam, Optimus, you were laughing." giggled Mikaela's voice.

_What the hell?_

Leo stumbled into the clearing. Sitting in a circle around a giant bon fire was ten robots varying in size and four humans. The largest alien, a blue and flame painted one, was taller then the others by far towering over them even when sitting down, and the three smallest barely clearing nine-feet. Lennox was standing beside the tallest one looking to be at complete ease. The dark-skinned man was seated beside Skids and Mudflap snickering along with them. Leo looked around and located Mikaela and Sam sitting barefoot beside, of course, Bumblebee. Well, Mikaela was sitting. Sam was laying down on a blanket.

How could they all sit calmly in a circle after the world had almost ended and in the presence of ten aliens?

Simmons strolled into the clearing, and after a brief pause, walked up to Lennox. "More of 'em then last time."

Every robot turned and looked at Simmons. Leo started to edge towards Sam and Mikaela hoping that well the attention wasn't on him, he could grab them and haul them away for some questioning. They weren't far from him. Bumblebee was seated next to the flame painted one and they were sitting in between the two aliens. All Leo had to do was get their attention and then…

"Hiya Chia Head!"

_Fucking hell!_

Leo froze as every alien turned there eyes to him. Damn it, those eyes of theirs were creepy in the dark. He stood still, trembling slightly under their staring. Damn it, this was so not cool. They were going to kill him, draw out every weapon they had and open fire on him. Oh god, he was to young to die, far to young.

"Hey guys! Stop staring at him. You're freaking him out." Lennox said. He walked up to Leo and grabbed him gently by the arm, steering him towards where Sam and Mikaela were. Leo went along numbly. "This is Leo. Sam mentioned him a few times."

"Hi, Leo." Sam slurred.

Mikaela moved closer to Sam and Leo sat down beside her. Looking them over Leo conclude that what he had been through at been nothing compared to these two. Mikaela was covered in scratches and forming bruises, her upper right arm wrapped in bandages and one of her toes wrapped in gauze pads swelled to twice its size. Her hair was a tangled mess and there was dirt smudges covering almost every inch of available skin. Sam looked even worse. His whole torso was wrapped in bandages and taped to his neck was a large gauze pad. One of his arms was also in bandages from shoulder to wrist and his hand that had been hurt when they arrived in Egypt had new wrappings. Looking down at Sam's bare feet, he saw that one of them was in a splint. Leo could see bruises on the side of Sam's neck and arm that weren't hidden by bandages progressing from purple to black, and his face was covered in minor burns and scratches.

What the hell had happened?

"I can see why he needs the painkillers." stated Simmons. "What injuries does Wonder-boy have, anyways?"

"Stop callin' me Wonder-boy…" Sam mumbled.

"Third-degree burns along his torso, second-degree burns on his left arm and neck," growled Ratchet, pushing Ironhide away from him. "Right foot is sprained badly and I have _told him not to walk on it_ until I say he can. Five ribs are fractured and his…Fraggit, Ironhide, I said _don't _test it. It has to slagging sit for awhile or you'll break it again…and his right knee cap has seventeen stitches in it. Also a couple of broken toes and bruising." he finished, grabbing Mudflap and hauling him over to he had been working.

_Holy shit. _Leo looked back at Sam amazed he wasn't already passed out. Sam, on his part, saw Leo staring and gave him a little wave. "Hi, Leo," he slurred again, "When'd you get here?"

"Leo got here five minutes ago, Sam." Mikaela told him patiently.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Oh," muttered Sam throwing his less injured arm across his eyes, "I didn't even see him walk in."

How much painkiller had they pumped into Sam? He had seen him walk into the clearing and even greeted him. Leo looked around, concern written on his face, but no one else seemed to think that the exchange between Mikaela and Sam had been out of the ordinary. In fact, Bumblebee was shaking with silent laughter and the tallest one was trying not to smile. Okay then…

"Is- is that normal?" he asked, trying not to flinch when they all looked at him. "Forgetting things like that when your on painkillers?"

"Yes." answered the pink alien, gently. "The morphine makes it harder for the brain to properly process things and in turn certain things will be forgotten. View it as looking through a dense fog."

"By tomorrow morning, when the morphine has worn off, he will most likely have forgotten what went on tonight." The blue one sitting beside the pink alien said. The purple one nodded.

"Oh."

Simmons chuckled from where he was standing. Leo turned to look at him. "Getting a little confused, kid?" And that annoying smirk was back. Leo lost it.

"Wel-of cou- Yes I am fuckin' confuse!" He snapped, anger. "What kind of stupid question is that? I've been fuckin' confused for the last four fuckin' days! Ever since I opened my fuckin' dorm-door and saw the god-damn terminater-thing hissing with a metal whip-tongue, what-fuckin'-ever, coming from its mouth!" He was screaming now, embarrassing himself in front of everyone. "I was fuckin' confused running across campus, in the warehouse with that fuckin' monster robot, when I was somehow fuckin' teleported from one side of the world to the fuckin' other side, when a bunch of god-damn fuckin' construction equipment turned into whatever the hell that was, and now this! So, yes I am fuckin' confused, you asshole!" And he picked up a semi-full water bottle and hurled it at Simmons.

Leo breathed heavily glaring at Simmons, who was still smirking, for a moment before sitting back down (When the hell had he risen?). Everyone in the clearing was staring at him half of them with sympathy, half with a look that said his outburst had been a waste of air. Mikaela was looking at him in minor shock, her mouth hanging slightly open. Sam was giggling and looking as though he had enjoyed Leo's rant.

"Kid, if ya had jus' wanted some questions answered all ya had to do was ask." Epps said.

Leo saw Major Lennox look up and say something to the flame painted alien, who nodded his head in agreement. A series of sound, much like the ones Jolt had made, emitted from him. The humans in the group didn't seem concerned with the noises, so Leo set the matter aside as unimportant for the time being. The other robots either nodded their heads as though agreeing or made the same noise.

Leo turned to Mikaela. She sighed, "All right, what to you wanna know?"

He waved an arm wildly around him. "What do you think I wanna know about?!"

Mikaela glared at him. "Stop shouting," she said, coolly. Sam stifled a laugh, eyes as wide a saucers.

"Fine. Sorry."

"Better." she replied stiffly. "All right, simple things first. These are the Autobots."

Good, he finally had a name for the aliens. "Autobots?"

"Autonomous Robotic Organisms from the planet Cybertron," giggled Sam. Bumblebee stared down at his charge and clicked. "I'm all right, 'Bee. Though… since when have there been two of you?"

"There's only one Bumblebee, Sam." said Mikaela gently. "Yes, Autobots."

"Okay." Leo paused. "So what ya call 'em? I know there's Bumblebee, Skids and Mudflap."

Lennox bounded forward. "I got this." Mikaela smiled and turned to Sam, who had begun to draw circles in the air. Gently grabbing his hand, she laid down beside him so that her body was carefully pressed against his and started to whisper in his ear. Sam smiled and closed his eyes. Leo felt a pang of envy.

"All right, Leo. Welcome to Autobots 101." Lennox said cheerfully. "First lesson: Names and rank. You might as while pay attention too, Simmons."

"Because I wasn't planning on it before." said Simmons, sarcastically.

"All right. This is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots." He pointed at the tallest of the aliens.

"Hello, Leo."

"Ironhide, weapon specialist. Don't piss him off or you'll regret it." The black robot glared at Lennox, who smiled innocently, before turning back to his massive cannons. Leo gulped.

"Ratchet, CMO to the Autobots." Ratchet didn't bother to turn around, snarling swears under his breath as he pinned Mudflap to the ground.

"Jolt. Fighter…and prankster."

Jolt waved at Leo, smiling.

"Sideswipe. Warrior and Autobot combat instructor."

"Hi."

"The Arcee triplets. Speedsters, warriors."

"Nice to meet you, Leo." said all three Arcee's.

"You already know Bumblebee but I'm in the jive of things so what the hell," Lennox said, "Bumblebee. Scout, lieutenant."

Bumblebee chirped at Leo, waving his hand.

"And the Twins. Soldiers. From the sound of it, you know them pretty well and are already on the _make-fun-of _list." Lennox smiled. "It'll wear down after awhile."

"Like ta hell it will!" Skids said. "Am I right, Mudflap?"

"Ya man! We'll be makin' fun a Chia Head for ta rest a-_Primus! _Ratchet, man, wha' ta frag?!" cried Mudflap. "Skids, help me. He gonna slaggin' offline me! The Hatchet gonna kill me!"

"Stop whining, you pit slagged son-of-a-glitch." snarled Ratchet. "Primus, you worse then Ironhide!"

"Mudflap.." Optimus said quietly.

Leo watched in disbelief as Mudflap looked up at Optimus upon hearing his name and then went completely still, clamping his mouth shut. One word and he shut up! Bumblebee had been trying to do that for four days and he had to bash his head against Skids to accomplish something close to silence. But saying just his name, with no threats attached to it, and going into silence was impressive. Leo could see why Optimus was the leader.

Lennox turned back to face him. Leo refocused on him. "All right. We covered names and ranks," Lennox said happily. "What else would you like to know?"

"Why your so freakin' happy." Epps muttered.

"Umm…" Where the hell did all his questions go? He had had a million things to ask when he had been walking around the desert but now that he was here it was as though they had all dissolved into nothing. Leo licked his sun-chapped lips. Come on, think of something… "How long have they been here, I guess." He said.

Mikaela chuckled from his left. "Two years." She said, and Sam held up two fingers.

Huh. That wasn't as long as he had originally thought. From the way Sam, Mikaela, and Bumblebee reacted around one another he had assumed they had been here for seven or eight yeah, minimum.

Another question popped to his mind. "Who'd the Autobots meet first?"

"Bumblebee, Ironhide, Ratchet, and myself first meet Sam and Mikaela ." Optimus answered.

"I remember that night…" Sam mumbled, then giggled into Mikaela's shoulder.

Mikaela smiled at him and looked over at Leo. "Sam and I met Bumblebee first, and then later that night met Optimus, Ironhide, Ratchet…" Her eyes flicked up to Optimus, who nodded. "…and Jazz."

"Poor Jazz." Came Sam's muffled voice from Mikaela's shoulder. Bumblebee clicked sadly.

Leo was about to ask who Jazz was but decided against it. He could always ask later and from the look that passed over the Autobots faces it wasn't something he wanted to bring up.

"How'd you guys meet them?" He asked instead, pointing at Lennox and Epps.

"Sorry, kid, top secret." Epps replied.

Well then. At least they were getting somewhere in the question department. Leo decided to ask another obvious one. "How'd Sam and Mikaela meet Bumblebee? From the sound of it he was here first."

"Because he was," Sam slurred, appearing from Mikaela's shoulder to stare at him. " 'Bee's been here since 2003."

"And you've known him that long?"

Sam shook his head and held two fingers up. Then he re-buried his head in Mikaela's shoulder.

Leo looked at Lennox in confusion. "If he's been here since 2003 and Sam met him two years ago, then what was he doing?" He looked up at Bumblebee, hoping that he would explain. But Bumblebee only shook his head and held his throat.

"And how come he keeps doing that?" Leo asked. "He done it a couple of times before but no one would tell me what it means!"

"Bumblebee's vocal processor was damaged in battle and I have not been able to properly fix it." Ratchet snapped, fingering for Skids to come over.

AKA he couldn't speak. Leo guessed that explained the music and movie clips.

"Okay then. How about my other question?"

Lennox looked up at Prime. "Your gonna have to explain it, Big Guy."

And so Leo sat and learned about a thing called the All-spark and how it had crashed onto Earth thousands of years before when launched into space. He was amazed that a war could break-out over an object that he would have considered worthless and that they would fight so hard that it destroyed their own planet. He couldn't image not living anyplace else except Earth, the shock of it would probably kill him. He listened as Optimus explained about how Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, followed it to earth but crash landed in the ice and snow of the Artic, were his systems shut down and he was in something close to a coma until two years ago. He was told that Bumblebee was sent to Earth to look from the All-spark and how he spent years travelling back and forth across the continent until he finally came across information that lead him to Sam.

"Okay," he said, when Optimus stopped talking. "Okay, so how did Sam meet Bumblebee?"

Sam sighed. "I bought a car for four thousand dollars at a used-car lot and it turned out to be 'Bee."

"Bro, you bought a 2010 Camero at a used-car lot?"

Sam cracked open an eye and looked at him. "No. I bought a '76 Camero. But Mikaela said something and he went and re-scanned the new Camero." Sam said, wincing and sucking in a painful breath.

"Your pain medicine is wearing off, Sam." Ratchet informed him, sitting down now that he was finished repairing everyone. Mikaela looked at him in concern and Bumblebee's engines whined anxiously.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Sam muttered. "Finish telling him."

Optimus frowned at Sam then looked back at Leo. He told Leo how he had ordered Bumblebee to guard Sam for the time being, how him and his cohort arrived at Earth so that they could get the glasses (Leo almost laughed at the thought that old glasses held Earths survival.) and find the All-spark before the Decepticons. Pausing a moment to collect his thoughts and flick his glace at Sam, Leo learned that Mission City had not been attacked by terrorist but had been a battle ground for the Autobots and Decepticons (Ha! Leo almost felt like dancing. He had been right!) And finally Optimus told him how the All-spark had been pushed into Megatron's chest by Sam supposedly ending the Decepticons leaders life and stopping the war over the All-spark for good.

Damn it. No wonder Megatron wanted Sam's blood. Sam had even said if it had been him that had died and came back he would want revenge against his killer too. Leo looked up at Prime and said the only thing that came to mind,

"Fucking hell."

The tense in the air that had hung their since Optimus began to tell him the All-spark tale was broken. Every human and Autobot in the circle broke out laughing. Leo laughed with them, just a little shakingly, and realized that every person here, whether robot or human, was braver then any other person out in the world. He figured it took guts to listen to the tale of your own worlds end or your own supposed death and be able to laugh together about it, even if it wasn't at all that funny. And he realized that was how they were also able to sit calmly in a circle hours after a fight and celebrate that they all came out alive.

"Okay, okay," Ratchet called out, "Its time for recharge. I can hear all you slagging engines whining and know that I'll have to repair them if you don't."

Leo frowned and turned to Mikaela. "What's a recharge?" He whispered.

"Sleep, basically." She answered, concentrating on Sam, who was sweating and shaking, moaning softly in pain.

Leo looked at her. "Should I go get a medic or something? He looks ready to pass out."

"No need." Ratchet answered for him, appearing beside them. He held up his hand and one of his fingers shifted out of the way for a needle to appear. Filling with a clear liquid, he inserted the needle into Sam's neck and pushed down until there was nothing left. Sam sucked in a shocked breath, then slumped over unconscious. Leo stared at Ratchet.

"Its just a sedative." Ratchet explained, picking Sam up carefully and placing him in the driver seat of Bumblebee's cab (When had he transformed?). Mikaela bide everyone a goodnight and climbed into the passengers seat. Both doors closed shut and Bumblebee honked his horn before backing up to a wall and powering down.

Leo looked around and noticed that everyone had transformed, all parked in a straight line. Lennox and Epps had crawled into Ironhide's cabin and after saying goodnight to everyone, closed the doors. Simmons was standing around looking for a place to sleep. Leo figured that as long as he stayed far away from him he should be good so that last night never made a re-performance. So then where was he going to sleep? The sand looked comfortable enough, maybe he could find a spot and…

"Hiya, Chia Head." Came Skids voice. Leo looked over and the driver side door popped open. "C'mon, man, you can bunk with me tonight. I won't to anythin' to ya, Autobots honour."

Leo hesitated before walking over and slipping into the driver seat. Simmons had crawled into Mudflaps cab, which was very good on Leo's part, and it was nice and warm in Skids cab. Way better then a pile of pissed soaked rags.

As he bide Skids goodnight and was on the edge of sleep, he remembered he had not asked how Sam had gotten those injuries, or what had happened here, or what the hell Alice was suppose to be. He frowned but then relaxed and let sleep take him.

He had the rest of his life to ask those questions, now that he was in the know, and he decided that they didn't matter for the time being.

* * *

**Longest one-shot by far! So if I bored the snot out of you, sorry about that.**

**I can't believe I forgot about Jolt! It was originally Sideswipe who goes and gets them in the beginning and then I saw a picture of all the Autobots and I'm like "Oh, right. Jolt."**

**Uh… its seems I've made a mistake. Skids and Mudflap shouldn't be in the first chapter/ one-shot because technically they hadn't even arrived at the camp yet. The first chapter takes place, like, half-an-hour after the battle. This one-shot takes place at night. Bloody brilliant then.**

**For some reason, I find writing Leo hard O_o Also, I figured that he would be a little paranoid of the Autobots. Sorry if I butchered his character to much. **

**Lennox is either happy that Optimus is back and the world is safe for the time being or he got to much sun.**

**In my world, Devastator killed a couple of humans stupid enough not to run away from him. **

**My timeline for the movie goes like this:**

**-Day one: First day of class, Sam see symbols, Alice attacks, Megatron and Starscream in the warehouse torturing Sam, Prime dies.**

**-Day two: They drive to New York, and find Simmons. The Fallen broadcasts his message to the planet. Leave New York and drive to Washington.**

**-Day three: Arrive in Washington and locate Jetfire. Teleported to Egypt.**

**-Day four: Locate Tomb of the Primes. Autobots and NEST dropped into Egypt. Battle begins. Sam dies, then comes back. Primes back. Fight between Optimus and the Fallen. End of battle.**

**Sam's injuries. Yeah, poor guy. I've basically made him a walking thing of bandages. I noticed in the movie when he was going to merge (or whatever) the matrix to bring Prime back he was limping/dragging one of his legs behind him. So I figured, "Yep. Something's broken there." The rest kinda follow from being flicked through a wall and onto a metal table, flying through the air and landing badly in Egypt. And getting blasted by Megatron's fusion cannon. If he sounds outta character, blame the painkillers. (PS. I have **_**no **_**idea how painkillers work. When Arcee is explaining it to Leo I made most of it up. And I have only ever seen people on morphine.)**

**Mikaela's appearance in the movie well in Egypt is kinda like she just finished applying her make-up and fixing her hair. Even though she went through almost all the same things as Sam, she was perfect looking. So, I dunked her in a thing of dirt.**

**Song credit: **_**I can't stop laughing **_**by The Trews. Information on the 'Bots is from **

**Reviews. I love 'em. Tell me what you liked or didn't. Were it need to be improved and so forth. Thank-you.**


	4. Nightmares II

**Authors Note: Decided to make **_**Nightmare **_**a two-shot, stick with the original plan. I apologize if that 'chapter' confused anyone. I tried in this 'chapter' to make Sam's dream a little more understandable. **

**I have no clue whether this is a bunch of one-shots anymore or if it mutated into something else.**

**I hit the invisible wall called writers-block. Slowly in the process of taking it down brick by brick with a sledgehammer.**

**Huggles to everyone that reviewed the last chapter. Have a plush-Bumblebee or any Autobot of your chose ;)**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers. That simple. Enjoy.**

* * *

_He realized that no one was coming to save him. Not this time. He sobbed and the Devil laughed at his distress._

_Beyond the Devil's head, as the Devil got ready to end his life, he could see the traitor symbols._

_Dancing in the air. _

* * *

Snapping his eyes open, sweat pouring down his brow, Sam laid gasping in the tilted back drivers seat. Every quick and sharp breath sucked in set his fractured ribs on fire and for a moment Sam panicked that Scalpel was back on his chest slicing at his burnt torso. _No, no, no! _Thrashing, Sam struggled to get out of the metal restraints holding him down, while also attempting to jolt Scalpel off. Megatron was above him, was going to kill him as promised in the warehouse. _Move, Sam, move! _Oh God, he had to get out, to get off the metal table. Sobbing quietly, Sam pulled hard on his arm to free it from its restrained, fingers pushing across warm leather…

…leather?

Wasn't he suppose to be on a hard, metal table?

Puzzled now, and not quite as scared as he had been, Sam calmed himself down enough to have a proper look around. There was no warehouse, no stupid Cybertronian symbols dancing around, no Megatron holding him down. Instead was the ceiling of Bumblebee's cab, the blanket twisted around him, and Mikaela sleeping in the passenger seat next to him.

Slowly the pieces of the puzzle dropped into place and the image began to take shape.

A nightmare. A harmless, nothing-to-worry-about nightmare. Nothing more.

_Duh._

Breathing almost back to normal, Sam let his head fall back onto the reclined seat and proceed to stare up at the darkened ceiling. A nightmare. Great. Those were just what he needed, and by the preview he had just gotten sleep and Sam would not be able to co-existed properly for a couple of months. He sighed softly. His sleep had been relatively nightmare free of the last year and a bit, and it was only on the now rare occasion that Sam was haunted by the events of Mission City and a snarling Megatron. Not anymore. _Bye-bye sleep, hello sleepless hours._

Sam didn't feel upset about it, though. He knew this had been coming and the small part of him that hadn't been concentrating on running, dodging, and everything else had excepted that fact. All that he had to do was suck it up and live through it.

Something that was easier said then done.

After a few minutes of looking aimlessly up at the ceiling and listening to Mikaela breathing, Sam felt his eyes lids start to become heavy. _No. _He was not going to go back to sleep. If he did it would most likely take him back to the warehouse and that was something he could live without for the time being. Maybe a few days if he could get away with it. Bumblebee would be after his blood when his guardian became away of his growing fatigue, possibly Ratchet too. Sam yawned. That was nothing to worry about, he thought sleepily, I can handle both of them. Readjusting his position, Sam-

-_found himself staring into the snarling face of the Devil. The symbols were back, dancing around in mockery. He chocked in fear. No, no. But something was different, different from last time. He could sense this. Shaking, he tore his eyes away from the Devil and then immediately snapped them back, a loud sob sounding from his chest. Mikaela was laying beside him, eyes open wide, blood running from her mouth, a horrified expression stamped on her beautiful face, and her skin bluey-white. Dead. Gone. No, no, no… Laughing at him, the Devil motioned with his head, those blood red eyes glinting. He couldn't help but look at where the Devil was nodding. Bumblebee, strung up from his ankles, swaying in a nonexistent breeze. Dead. Optimus, lying on the floor motionless, dead. Ironhide, dead. Ratchet, dead. His parents chopped into piece, dead. No, no, NO!_

_He attempted to move, get away from those awful sights and the laughing Devil. But of course he was held in place. Insanity lost, he started to scream. The Devil only laughed harder and plunged a sharp knife into his gut. Blood spouted like a fountain and splattered him in the face. He could tasted it., smell it. Shrieking harder and louder, he was forced to watch as the knife re-entered his gut and he-_

_-_jolted awake. Panting, Sam made a wild grab for the door handle and managed to get it open. He needed to run far away from the laughing Devil and the dead bodies of his friends. Falling on his knees, Sam threw the blanket behind him and dashed away from the Devil. He ignored the odd feeling in one foot and kept running. _Faster, Sam, faster! _Direction was lost to him and nothing looked right. Where was he? That didn't matter. He would figure it out later. The ground trembled slightly. _Oh God, he was coming! _Pumping his legs harder, Sam rounded the corner of a random building and bumped into something rather hard. And that something had felt like a metal leg.

Looking up, Sam tried to scream bloody murder but found his throat blocked. Instead he chose to dive into the nearest building, which he dimly noted was empty. Huddling into a corner, Sam buried his head in his knees like a child. Any minute now, Megatron was going to end his life like he had with everyone else. Rip of the roof as though it was paper, pluck him from his small haven, and slowly kill him. He sobbed gently.

"Sam?"

Sam shock his head and hugged his knees tighter. This was it.

"Hey, kid? You all right?"

Good-bye world.

Something touched his arm. Panicking, he jerked backwards and ended up sprawled on his side. A face loomed over him. What was this? Was Megatron going to toy with him? Send in a new Pretender that looked surprisingly familiar and draw him out? Not going to happen. Drawing back one of his legs, Sam kicked as harder as he could into the Pretenders chest. The Pretender grunted and fell onto its backside. Sam twisted onto his stomach and tried to get to his hands and knees but his body screamed in utter protest and wouldn't allow it. He fell and curled into he fetal position. At least he had tried to get away.

"Jesus- Sam, kid, calm down. Its Lennox," The Pretender said, "I am not going to hurt you. I promise."

Lennox. He knew that name. Why would Megatron make a Pretender imitate Lennox? Would it not have been simpler to make one that imitated Mikaela? That would have drawn him out quickly. Hell, one of his _Mother _would have drawn him out of the rabbit hole swiftly. So then why Lennox?

Sam's logic thinking returned and he stupidly concluded that nothing was coming after him and that the Lennox above him was not a Pretender but flesh and blood. Groaning at himself, Sam unfurled and blinked up at Lennox, who in turn blinked right back at him.

A slight blush of embarrassment crept onto Sam's face. Here he was cowering on the floor in front of a guy who could take down twenty-foot robots and not give it a second thought. And he had been crying too. _Way'da go Witwicky._ Face full tomato red, Sam attempted to get off the floor and stand up like a man. Attempted being the key word. In his mad dash to get away from nightmare Megatron he had fully forgot about the injuries covering him from head to toe. Now, though, the injuries painfully became the first thing on his mind.

Did he mention painfully?

Lennox leaned over him, concern written on his features. "Jesus Christ, kid. Way to have a mini-freak out."

"Thanks," Sam groaned.

"C'mon," Lennox reached down and pulled him easily off the floor. Sam almost felt like protesting. Laying on the floor had been so much better now that he was standing up. Lennox threw him a anxious glace and put an arm around Sam's shoulders to help him walk. Taking a small step forward, Sam had to clamp his mouth tightly shut to keep from shouting. _Oh God, it hurt._

Sam and Lennox carefully walked out of the hut and over to a small bonfire. Ironhide, much to Sam's embarrassment, was crouching down trying to see what the problem was. Could this night get any worse?

Yes, in fact, it could.

"Should I go and wake Ratchet, Will?" Ironhide asked, as Sam carefully sat down. "From scan readings it would be best for him to see a medic."

Lennox straightened up and looked over at Ironhide. "Sure, 'Hide. Maybe Bumblebee too."

_Crap._

"No!" Sam said loudly. Lennox and Ironhide stared at him. "I mean-uh- I'm okay. N-no reason to be waking them really," He stuttered, "Thanks though."

Ironhide didn't look very convinced. "You need a medic, boy." He growled, before standing.

Not good, not good.

"Really, Ironhide, I'm _fine." _Sam protested weakly. He meant to twist around all he way so he could look up at the weapon specialist properly but his burnt torso set on fire again and he moaned in pain.

Lennox half-smiled. "And that proves you need a medic," he said.

Sam opened his mouth, re-thought what he was going to say, and blurted out, "Fine. Just _please _don't wake 'Bee. I don't want him going mother hen on me."

Ironhide grunted. "Agreed…though I can't imagine Bumblebee becoming this 'mother-hen,'" he was heard muttering as he stalked off to get Ratchet.

Sam put his head in his hands or rather, his one good hand. Oh, this night was just turning out to be fantastic. On top of his nightmare, now he'd have to deal with Ratchet, too. Sam groaned and shock his head slightly. Just wonderful. He heard Lennox walk up beside him and looked up.

"Ironhide's just concerned, kid." Lennox told him, "Deep down he's just a big softy."

"Great to know," muttered Sam.

"Seriously though, are you okay? You looked as though the Devil himself was after you when you 'rounded that corner and inside the hut."

Sam flinched when Lennox said 'Devil', and proceed to stare at the sand between his toes. Lennox remained quiet patiently waiting for an answer. After a few seconds, Sam muttered, "Nightmare." Then peeked out of the corner of his eye to see Lennox's reaction. Probably laughter at his idiocy for running from his own shadow. Embarrassment crept onto his face again.

Lennox was silent for a moment, no emotion on his face. The he raised an eyebrow. "I'm not gonna make fun of you for having a nightmare, kid, so you can wipe that look from your face."

"Right," muttered Sam.

"_Seriously. _Why would I bug you for being a human?" Lennox stated.

Sam looked at him, confused. "What?"

Lennox smiled. "Having a nightmare is part of being human, kid. You should know that and there's nothing wrong with having one."

Sam shrugged and went back to looking at the sand between his toes. "I guess," he said, "But its embarrassing to be seen crying."

Lennox gently poked him in the shoulder. "No its not," he paused, "Okay, _sometimes _its embarrassing to be seen crying openly. But that wasn't one of them. Crying is also part of being human, Sam. Its not something you can really control and its not just something women do."

"But it looks weak."

Lennox snorted. "No, it shows that you can feel."

Sam mumbled something inaudible.

"Seriously, kid. If you can cry, it shows you can feel emotion. And you know who told me that?" Lennox asked.

Sam shook his head.

"My commanding officer when I first joined the Army. He found me crying behind the canteen after I got back from being in the field for the first time." Lennox told a bewildered Sam. "Told me there was nothing wrong with how I was feeling."

"You? Crying? No way. You're, like, one of the bravest guys out there!" Sam exclaimed.

"So? I'm human and humans cry," Lennox said. "Besides, you're one of the bravest guys out there too."

Sam blushed.

"So, now that we've established that its okay to cry, why don't you tell me about this nightmare of yours."

Sam felt his chest tighten and shook his head. No thank you, that wasn't something he was willing to share. Besides, Lennox would defiantly think him crazy if he told him about chasing Cybertronian symbols and wanting to keep one as a pet.

"C'mon, Sam. Its better to tell someone about it then keep it locked up," said Lennox, "Anyway, if you tell me you'll never have it again."

"Oh yeah?" Sam muttered sarcastically.

"Yeah. Once you tell someone about a dream or a nightmare, you'll never have one again. Its something my physiology teacher taught me. So out with it."

Never having those nightmares again. God, that was tempting. He and sleep could co-existed properly instead of fight one another for a few months, and Lennox did say he wouldn't may fun of him…._Damn it. _Sam groaned internally and took a deep breath.

"I had two nightmare actually," Sam mumbled.

"Let me guess. You had one, told yourself you weren't going to go back to sleep, then accidentally fell back asleep and had another one."

"Psychic."

"No. Predictable. Go on."

Sam swallowed. "Umm…I dunno…"

Lennox laughed softly. "Tell me about the first one, and no matter how fucked up it sounds I will not laugh."

"Surrounded by a bunch of Cybertronian symbols that lead me straight to Megatron," Sam muttered, starring at his feet.

"Okay, that's something. What happened?"

Sam let out a shaky sigh. "I was back in that warehouse, and he had be pinned to a metal table," he mumbled, "Scalpel was crawling around on my chest slicing it open or tearing at the burns on it., and that weird robot bug thing was back in my mouth and I could feel it crawling around but when I tired to push it out with my tongue nothing was there and I couldn't breath. Megatron was laughing at me and I realized no one was coming to help me. He was just getting ready to kill me when I woke up."

Lennox nodded. "All right. And the second one?"

"Umm… kinda the same. Megatron had me pinned to a metal table in that warehouse. But something was different, so I turned my head…" Sam stopped.

"And?"

'Mikaela was laying dead next to me," Sam whispered, "Bumblebee was strung from the ceiling by his ankles dead, Optimus was dead… Ironhide, Ratchet, my parents dead. Everyone was dead. And then Megatron laughed and… and then I woke up."

Sam buried his head in his knee's again. Blurry images flashed through his mind from his nightmares and he almost moaned in agony. _Not real, not real. _He had just seen Ironhide, who was getting Ratchet. So they couldn't be dead. He knew Mikaela was still asleep in Bumblebee, so they were good. His parents were already on a ship back to NEST headquarters and he had said goodbye to them, so they hadn't kicked the bucket. Optimus was all right. Everyone was all right.

"Jesus, kid," Lennox muttered, "That's brutal. No wonder you looked scared when you rounded that corner and bumped into Ironhide."

"He's gonna kill me when he finds out I thought he was Megatron."

"If your suicidal enough to actually tell him!" Lennox laughed, "Oh God, I can see his face!"

"Ha-ha." Sam muttered, emerging from his knee's.

"You'll be fine though."

"Hmmm…"

They went quiet. Off in the distance voice could be heard auguring with one another and the various popping sounds of bonfires scattered around camp. Sam became aware that the ankle in the splint was throbbing and he groaned at the thought of Ratchets reaction when he found out he had been running on it. _He's gonna tie me to Bumblebee's shoulder and make me sit there until I'm completely healed._

"What weird bug thing?" Lennox asked suddenly.

Sam jumped slightly and turned his head to look at Lennox. "What?"

"You said in your nightmare the 'weird bug thing was back in my mouth,'" Lennox said, starring hard at Sam, "What were you talking about?"

_Shit, shit, shit!_ "No-nothing," Sam stuttered.

Lennox snorted. "Its not _nothing, _kid. When you dream its just your brain organizing what went on in the last couple of days, so it _has _to be something."

"You know far to much on dreaming," Sam muttered.

"Answer the question, Sam," Lennox said, "Something you didn't tell us?"

"I-ah-well-umm," Sam tripped over his own tongue. Taking a deep breath, he blurted out at top speed, "When-I-was-in-the-warehouse-with-Megatron-for-real-they-put-this-thing-down-my-throat-and-it-puncture-the-soft-tissues-of-my-brain-and-started-playing-back-memories-like-a-fucking-home-movie."

Sam stopped and gasped in a great lung full of air. Lennox was sitting stunned beside him, eyes wide and mouth gaping. Sam almost felt like telling him that his face would freeze that way and that he looked like a total idiot. Almost. Getting his breath back, Sam turned to look into the fire again waiting for Lennox to say something. After a tension filled minutes, Lennox spoke.

"They shoved something in your mouth that could read your memories…"

Sam nodded.

"_Fuck!" _Lennox exploded, "That's a complete violation of privacy or something!"

"There Decepticons, like hell they care."

"Yeah, I know but _hell…_No wonder you didn't tell anybody!" Lennox said angrily, "That's just wrong!"

Sam nodded again, "Optimus shot the little bastard that did, so…"

"Good," Lennox said. "But _Jesus…" _

They fell silent again. The voices in the distance were still arguing (Sam would bet anything that it was Ironhide and Ratchet) and nothing seemed to have changed except that the horizon was now a light blue, signalling sunrise. Lennox continued to mutter angrily and Sam stared into the dying fire. There was a lot of things he hadn't shared with everyone when he, Mikaela, Leo, and Simmons were questioned on what they had been doing. Something's he planned on telling them later on when he could handle re-living the moment to do so and other's Sam planned on taking to the grave. Though Sam doubted he would be able to keep things secret. Optimus had looked as though he wanted to talk to him in private later about what had happened with the All-spark shard and the Matrix, and wouldn't let him go unless Sam told him everything. (Which was a conversation he was not looking forward too.) Sam also hadn't told everyone what had gone down in the warehouse before the Autobots arrived and they had assumed that he wasn't ready to tell so they dropped it. Which Sam had been thankful for really, considering he didn't want to tell them about the warehouse…

Warehouse…

Sam blinked and sat up a little straighter as something odd struck him. Out of everything that had happen to him over they last couple of days, between the Alice thing to the Battle, why did he have nightmares about being back in the warehouse? Shouldn't he be having nightmares about in the forest or the battle? Those would have made more sense. But instead it was the warehouse. So why then?

Sam turned to look at Lennox. "Why the warehouse?" He asked

"Pardon?"

"Why am I having nightmares about being in the warehouse?" Sam said quickly, "Should I be having them about the forest or, you know, the battle?"

Lennox frowned, "No idea. Probably because the warehouse was the most traumatizing out of everything you did. Though you haven't told us about it yet."

"And I'm not going to anytime soon."

Lennox half-smiled. "Fine. We can wait."

"The rest of you can wait," said Sam, "Knowing 'Bee, he'll lock me in his cab until I tell him."

"He's just concerned, kid," Lennox laughed, "No need to look worried."

"Say's you," said Sam, "He is so going to go mother hen on me."

"As he should," growled Ratchets voice.

Both Sam and Lennox jumped and turned. Ratchet was rounding the corner, looking irritable as always and following close behind was Bumblebee, concern written all over his face plate. Sam buried his head in his knee's for a brief moment, before taking in a deep breath (How many deep breaths had he taken tonight?) and emerging. Bumblebee was already crouching over him, clicking and twittering.

"Have I have mentioned that you can move like a fucking cat, Ratchet?" Lennox asked.

"Felines crawl around on four legs, Will," Ratchet snapped, "So how can I move like one?"

Sam chuckled.

"Nevermind."

Ratchet shot Lennox a look before coming up to Sam, who shrank slightly at the approaching medic. Bumblebee clicked in sympathy, feeling sorry for what was about to come to his charge, and gently picked Sam up. Sam protest slightly at the sudden movement, squirming a bit.

"Stop moving, boy!" Ratchet snarled, "Or you'll damage yourself more. You've managed to break a rib and have a hairline fracture in that foot of yours! What did I tell you about walking on it?!"

"I was running, Ratchet," Sam mumbled unhelpfully.

Ratchet just growled and looked as though he would like nothing more then to blow a couple buildings to rubble. Bumblebee's engine whirled in away that could be taken for a small giggle and Lennox was laughing silently. Sam blushed and looked into his lap. This was so not going to be good.

"Where's Mikaela?" Sam asked, looking around.

"Sleeping in Ironhide's cab," Ratchet growled. Bumblebee nodded.

"Oh."

Lennox smiled and stretched. "Well, have fun getting tortured, Sam. There's something's I gotta take care of," he said, getting ready to walk off.

"Thanks, Will." Sam said, looking down at him.

Lennox waved a hand at him. "No problem-o, Sam. It's what I do." Then Lennox turned, started to whistle, and stalked off.

Bumblebee looked down at Sam, letting out a curious whistle. Sam smiled (despite the pain he was in) and patted Bumblebee's thumb. "Nothing, 'Bee. We just talked about a couple of things," Sam said.

Bumblebee looked at him.

"I had a couple of nightmares, 'Bee," Sam muttered to him, "Nothing more."

"_You can talk to me about anything, kid…" _murmured a voice from Bumblebee's radio.

Sam laughed. "I know, 'Bee, I know."

Bumblebee clicked, then walked off to join Ratchet, who had various fingers transformed into medical equipment. Sam sighed and prepared himself for a long couple of hours.

Later, as Sam slept in Bumblebee's front seat, Mikaela draped over his side, he wasn't haunted by a single nightmare.

* * *

**Hmmm…I didn't really like the ending but I didn't know how else to end it. **

**I figured that being tortured in the warehouse by Megatron was more traumatizing for Sam then anything else. I have no idea why I think that, I just do.**

**The crying rant Lennox gives Sam was based on my Ancient Civilization teachers rant about how it's all right for guys to cry and that they shouldn't be embarrassed by it. He said it always amazes him when his wife cries over nothing sometimes but then ends up feeling a hell of a lot better later. So yeah… **

**I'm going to try my hand a humour in a couple of weeks, just in time for Halloween. It'll be a separate one-shot, not related to these. That's all I'm saying ;)**

**Review please. Tell me what you think. You get plushie-Autobots for it! Ha-ha.**


	5. Just a Moment

**Authors Note: Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter. Plushie-Autobots (or Decepticons, whichever) of your chose! ;)**

_**ChevyChick: I think Lennox would keep what was said, the memory-reading bug and all that, between him and Sam a secret. Its not his to tell and Sam would inform the Autobots when he's ready to.**_

_**Soului: I am planning to have that conversation happen. Its gonna be awhile though. And thanks for the critique. Much appreciated!**_

_**Edited: **_**Thanks to **_**VisualIDenificationZeta **_**for point out a major error. I had totally forgotten about the ally scene in the first **_**Transformers. **_**So many, many thanks to him, and I have corrected the mistake.**

**I apologize in advance if you find some sort of spelling mistake or a punctuation error.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers. Simple as that. Enjoy.**

* * *

The amount of stars scattered across the night sky amazed Judy Witwicky.

Laying on a well worn blanket, a couple hundred metres from the camp, Judy stared up at the heavens awe written clearly across her features. She had never seen something like this before having grown up in the city where light pollution dimmed the beauty above. Now, though, with the electricity out in Cairo and no lights to hide the wonders above, Judy could look upwards and see something she had only witnessed on their HD television.

It was as though someone had thrown a handful of glitter across a giant canvas of black adding tiny prickles of other colours. Every so often a shooting star would appear, glaze the atmosphere and disappear. Added the crickets chirping gently in the background and the popping of the flames from the bonfires, it seemed as though the world was in a state of perfect ease.

Something Judy knew would last only a little while.

Stretching out her cramped and sore muscles, Judy ran a hand through the tangled mess of hair atop her head. She had long ago taken out the large amount of bobby-pins that had been holding her hair in place and now it was hanging loosely around her shoulders. Something she honestly didn't mind. Bobby-pins had been the bane of her existence for awhile. Judy had smiled in pleasure when she had thrown them in a bonfire.

A shooting star flashed across the night sky and Judy followed its process until it disappeared. She remembered something her mother had always told her about shooting stars and how you were suppose to wish upon them. Naïve but fun. Closing her eyes, Judy took a long breath. _I wish that…_

"Mom?"

Jolting upright, hand flying towards her chest, Judy twisted around to see her son limping towards her. A blanket was carelessly thrown over his shoulders and a water bottle was clenched in one hand. Every motherly instinct suddenly came online and Judy jumped to her feet, quickly rushing over to her boy. The sand was chilly between her feet but she pushed the discomfort aside.

"Sammy! What is it? Is something the matter?" Judy said fearfully latching onto Sam's arm. "Do you need a medic?"

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Nothings wrong," he said slowly, "I just couldn't sleep."

"Are you sure? I could go wake a medic," Judy said quickly, apparently not hearing the last thing Sam said. She helped him over to where she had been laying and assisted him as he sat down. Sam sat with a small chuckle and looked up at her. She fell to her knee's and started to smooth the blanket around his shoulders. "I could go wake a medic, Sammy." Judy repeated.

"No, ma. I don't need a medic," said Sam patiently, "Do you need one?"

Judy frowned. "Why would I need one?"

"Well I'm sure he can give you a shot of something to _calm down." _Sam said innocently, "Seriously, I'm fine. There's no need to freak out."

"I'm your mother," Judy declared quietly, "I'm allowed to freak out when you're hurt."

"Well, you do a pretty good job at it. Maybe you should enter a contest or something," Sam joked.

Judy gently hit Sam on the shoulder. "Quiet you."

Sam shrugged. "I am just thrown it out there," he said. He tilted his head back to look at the stars.

Judy followed suit,, crossing her legs. The stars merrily twinkled down at them and they sat in silence for a moment watching them. _How many other planets have life on them? _Judy thought absently. She turned her head to stretch out her neck and was meet with the sight of sleeping vehicles in the distance. Judy frowned and turned to look at her son, who was wearing a distant expression.

"Where are they from?" She asked suddenly, startling Sam.

"What?"

"The-the Transformers…where are they from?"

Sam blinked at her. "You're gonna have to be more specific," he said, "You mean what galaxy? What part of the universe? Their planet? What."

"The last one," Judy muttered, throwing a nervous glace at the sleeping aliens. "Their planet."

Sam must have noticed where she was looking. "Don't worry about them," he told her, "Their all in recharge. Can't hear a word we're saying. Besides, they know better then to listen in."

Judy nodded, embarrassed. "So…where are they from, then ?"

"Cybertron," Sam answered.

Judy tested out the word. "Cybertron," she said slowly, "Weird name."

Sam laughed softly. "I'm pretty sure they'd say the same thing about our planet being called _earth."_ He said, then mumbled under his breath, "Planet Dirt."

"What was that?" Judy asked curiously.

"Nothing," Sam said, "Just remembering something. What else you'd like to know?"

Judy looked up at the night sky. "Where's Cybertron?"

Sam shook his head. " 'Bee says you can't see it from Earth," he told her, "To far away."

"Oh." Judy frowned. "What was it like?"

"No idea," Sam said quietly, "I know what it looked like when the war was going on there, though. There was green skies, and yellow cloud cover. Uhh… some parts of the land had fallen away and these weird towers were erected everywhere. That's really all I know about it."

Judy could feel shock rising in her gut. "They destroyed their own planet?" She whispered.

Sam nodded. " 'Our war finally consumed the planet,' " he muttered.

"Pardon?"

"I'm just quoting Optimus. Something he told Mikaela and I when we first met."

"Oh."

Sam looked at her. "It was a powerful empire, before it fell," he said, "Though, I can't explain what it looked like then. The 'bots don't really like to talk about it."

"They don't?" Judy asked surprised. "Why not?" She had always assumed that they would have told people what their home planet looked like, give them insight into another alien world. The notion that they kept it to themselves was something Judy had never considered. She stared at her son, waiting for an answer.

Sam shrugged. "To painful, I guess. Having to describe a place they'll never see again. Everyone just sorta leaves it alone."

"So, I shouldn't go up to them and ask then?"

"Nope."

They fell into silence again. Sam continued to look up at the stars every so often mouthing the name of a constellation. When he did so a troubled expression would appear on his face and he would fidget slightly. Judy didn't seem to notice her sons slight discomfort, to busy drawing absently in the sand and wondering what it would be like never to see Earth again. She supposed her heart would break or she would simply die from depression. To never feel the wind, or grass between her toes again, or the suns warmth. To never hear the ocean again. Judy shuttered and moved her mind onto a less depressing topic.

"How is college going, Sammy?" Judy asked, quietly.

"College?" Sam said slowly. He tore his eyes away from beauty above and looked at her. He frowned. "Okay, I guess. I was only really there for two days. Campus is nice though."

"Well, you'll be able to go back after everything is taken care of," Judy said happily, "Have you figured out what your going to do after?"

Sam flinched slightly and looked down. "Somewhat," he muttered, "Though you may not be very happy about it."

Judy looked at her son strangely. "Any profession you chose, Sam, will make me happy no matter what."

"We'll see," Sam mumbled.

"Well? What is it?" Judy asked curiously, "Even if its just an idea, I'd still like to hear it."

Sam rubbed his neck nervously. "Umm…well, yesterday afternoon when the clean up was going on and everything, Will pulled Mikaela and I aside to talk…about things."

"Will?"

"Major Lennox," Sam told her, "You've met him. Six-three, short brown hair? Anyway, he said he'd like Mikaela and I… uh, to… umm, come and work for NEST. Optimus wants us to, too. " He shrunk away from his mother, fear written on his face.

Judy felt her heart rate pick up and her face become red with anger. Her baby go and work with those dangerous people? Hunt down those evil aliens? Her nostrils flared and she hissed, "Absolutely not!"

"Knew you wouldn't like it," Sam said softly.

"Of course I don't like it!" Judy said furiously. "You are not going to work with them!"

Sam sat looking at his mother for a moment before he sucked in a breath and said with all the confidence he could muster, "I want to go work at NEST though."

Judy glared heatedly at Sam until he all his confidence broke and he flicked his eyes towards the ground in front of him, shoulders hunched. Judy smiled in bitter triumph. Her 'evil eye', as Ron called it, always seemed to work when she wanted to be in control. Take away the men's poise and they listened to whatever you said.

"You're not going to work for them, Samuel, and that's final."

Sam narrowed his eyes. "I can make my own decisions, Mom, and I'm going to take Will and Optimus' offer," he said impatiently, "There's nothing you or Dad can say about it."

'I'm you mother and-"

"And I'm nineteen! An adult!" Sam said loudly, "I don't need you or Dad to make my decisions for me anymore," pausing, he took a deep breath and then continued in a softer tone, "C'mon on, Mom, you're gonna have to let me go at sometime. Please?"

_Let me go._

Suddenly, Judy found herself back surrounded by crumpling buildings, flying missiles, and aliens viciously fighting one another. The hot desert sun was on her back and she could feel the sand stuck to her face. Bumblebee stood behind her firing off shots towards unseen enemies and Sam was standing in front arguing with his father, begging to be let go. She remembered moving forward and placing her hands on her son's shoulders, and with a sense of slight dread in her stomach, firmly told her husband to let their son go.

_Let him go._

Judy came back to the present. Sam was staring pleadingly at her, his uninjured hand clasping her forearm. She looked at him, saw that he was no longer a baby boy that needed to be taken care of, who's every cut and bruise now didn't need a healing kiss. No longer the child that had excitedly told her about the little crawl space he had discovered or the boy that would come crawling into bed with them after a nightmare. He was now a young man who was ready to properly face the world, who's faced more then any adult his age ever has or would and who didn't need his mother for everything anymore.

_No longer my little boy, _thought Judy sadly.

She burst into tears.

Sam became alarmed when she suddenly started to cry. He let go of her forearm and looked at her, completely at loss of what to do. Judy continued to sob and threw her arms around Sam hugging him harder then when he had been leaving for college. Sam put his one good arm around her shoulders and awkwardly patted her back. Judy cried into his shoulder, the bandages becoming wet with tears. She mumbled nonsense things, all of which Sam was unable to make out.

After awhile Judy creased crying. She gave Sam one extra hug and pulled back, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Sam let go and proceed to look at her, concern written on his face. Inwardly, Judy gave a small, sad chuckle. She hadn't meant to scare him, far from it. Oh well. Pushing her hair back, Judy sucked in a deep breath and slowly released it. 'Calming' her yoga instructor what have called it. Then turned to face her son.

"All right, Sammy," she said calmly, "If you want to work at NEST don't let me stop you."

If possible, Sam looked even more alarmed then when she had been crying. "Pardon?"

Judy laughed softly. "I said, if you want to work at NEST don't let me stop you," she repeated, "Your right. You can make your own decisions, and if that's the decision you've made on what you want to do for the rest of your life, I'll be behind you one-hundred percent."

"Ok-ay," Sam said slowly, "Who the hell are you and what have you done with my actual mother?"

"Don't be silly."

"I am just a little creeped out that you're actually are okay with me working at NEST."

Judy smiled. "But I still want to talk about with your father present. When we're all back at NEST," she paused, "When are we leaving? It's tomorrow right?"

Sam paled and started to fidget. "Yeah…about that," he said.

"What?" Judy asked, "Are we leaving the next day instead?"

Sam shook his head. "No, no… tomorrow is still the day. It's just that… I'm not going to be travelling with you guys."

Judy could feel confusion rising in her chest. Not traveling with them? Weren't they all told that their would only be one boat taking them to the base? Judy looked at her son, uncomprehending written on her face.

Sam let out a nervous chuckle. "See…Will, Epps, Simmons, Leo, Mikaela, and I are going to be going somewhere with the Autobots first before heading back to NEST," he told her, "Nothing to be worried about. We'll only be gone a couple of days and then when we get back I'll talk to you and dad."

Judy didn't say anything.

"Umm…Mom?" Sam asked.

_Don't freak out at him, do not freak out at him. _Judy got her rising emotions under check and, as calmly as she could, asked, "Where will you be going?"

"There's uh… some place the Autobots wanna visited before heading back to base," Sam said quickly. "Its in Jordan. I _swear _we'll only be a couple days."

_He's old enough to chose what he wants to do and he…damn it. _"Why do you have to go? Surely you can come back with us and let them go parading off." Judy blurted out.

Sam looked startled at what she said. "What?"

"Well… you need to rest!" Judy said, trying to defend herself, "And that means no running off with the Autobots!"

Sam just blinked at her, then he smiled. "Don't worry, Ma, I'll be completely fine," he said, "I'll have Ratchet, who will probably be keeping an annoying watchful eye on me, making sure I don't do anything to hurt myself even more, and Bumblebee who won't let me out of his sight. Nothing to worry about."

Judy struggled a bit before giving up. "Fine, you can go. But for the love of god be careful."

Sam gave he a cheeky salute. "Yes, ma'am."

"And we _will _be talking with your father about you joining NEST when you get back," Judy informed him, "There's no way you're getting out of it, either. Am I clear?"

"Crystal," Sam said, "If you'd like, I could ask Will to talk with you and Dad also? He probably could explain things about it better then I can."

"That sounds good," Judy said happily, laying back to watch the stars. Sam laid next to her and after awhile started to point out different constellations along with the history behind them. Judy listened fascinated as her son talked and every so often asked a question. Absently she wondered how he know half of what he was telling her.

As Sam talked, Judy saw another shooting star soar across the night sky and she thought back to the last one she had attempted to make a wish on before being interrupted earlier. She followed it progress until it disappeared and then closed her eyes. Making her wish, Judy reopened her eyes and went on listening to her son, who was busy explaining about Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.

* * *

**And once again, we have an example of a chapter/one-shot spiralling outta control. I wanted to take a right turn and it went left -sigh-**

**Don't be alarmed (Ha-ha). There will be one-shots/chapters featuring Sam's parent and the lot. Also a certain slaghead we all know and hate will be making a couple appearances.(Anyone guess who that is?!) I just want to focus on the main group of characters. So, like the **_**Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy **_**written in nice, friendly letters, are the words: DO NOT PANIC!**

**I figured that Sam's parents didn't want to know much about the Autobots, trying to keep their lives as normal as possible after they found out. As you've just read, Judy changed her mind and wanted to know a little about them. **

**I hopped on the 'Sam and Mikaela join NEST' band-wagon. Still trying to figure out what the hell Sam will do (we all know Mikaela's gonna be helping in the medbay.)**

**YOUR NOT ALLOWED TO HEAR WHAT JUDY WISHED BECAUSE THEN IT WON'T COME TRUE! :P**

**Review's earn you things. Cyber-cookies, cupcakes, plushies, a Camero… So please review. I'm a sucker for feedback. Thank-you! **


	6. Reunited

**Authors Note: Because we all wondered what became of Wheelie.**

**Thanks for the reviews! Early Halloween candy for all!**

**My new story **_**The Simulator **_**is up. Check it out please!**

**EDITED! Fixed somethings.  
**

**Just a short one-shot.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers. Simple as that. Enjoy!**

**______________________________________________________________________________________________**

They abandoned him. Left him with out a word. _All by himself_ in that human built structure. He was use to being forgotten, having worked for the fragging Decepticons, but not like that. His spark shook in its tiny casing. Oh, were they going to get it! The slagging aft-heads. No one left him behind. He speed up, anger fuelling him. How could his Warrior Goddess forget him?

_Probably that idiot spark-mate she keeps around, _Wheelie thought, conquering a large sand dune. _I hate him. No one deserves my Warrior Goddess but me!_

It had been almost a day-and-a-half since the Fallen had been defeated by the last remaining Prime, something Wheelie had witnessed hiding behind a sand dune. He remembered being amazed at the fight. _That _was the Prime? He had been excepting some moron that wouldn't hurt even a drone and instead watched as he beat two powerful Decepticons all alone, seemingly having no problem doing it either. Suddenly, Wheelie was glad he had defected to the Autobots. He could see now that the Decepticons were the real cowards, their apparently all powerful Leader running away with his tail pipe between his legs.

All powerful. Wheelie snorted. Yeah right.

He couldn't wait to betray the Decepticons to the Autobots, relaying information to them they weren't suppose to know. That was going to be so much fun.

Stopping at the top, Wheelie could see that he had half-a-mile to go, the fragging humans having set up a make-shift camp in their battle zone. _Finally_. He had been traveling for more then a day now, alternating between his alt-mode or Cybertronian form well he travelled. Training his one working optic on the camp Wheelie quickly picked out the Autobots (they weren't that hard to see), and his Warrior Goddess, whom he was disguised to see was curled up next to that slagging spark-mate of hers. He'd have to do something about that. Though he was happy to see that she wasn't badly damaged, managing to even look beautiful in her ragged appearance.

Determining that the best place of entrance was at the east of the camp, closest to the Autobots, Wheelie set off again. Quickly down the sand dune, letting gravity speed the process along, and then he was racing across the desert, sand flying in his a wake. At times he hated the alt-form he had chosen, being to tiny to do really anything, but now he was glad that it was small allowing an easy access into the camp. He just hoped that the Autobots wouldn't pick up on his Decepticon signature and being ignorant he felt sure they wouldn't.

He forgot all about the highly skilled and trained scout that was with the Autobots until a giant yellow foot came crashing down in front of him.

As he spun out of control, shrieking swears both in Cybertronian and human, Wheelie concluded that the Decepticons could have used a scout like that. True, he probably wasn't the hardest to catch, not being a very good spy and all, but when he had been informed of what Autobots were on Earth and where, the yellow one had been ranked in the top five most dangerous for his ability to fight hand-to-hand combat using little to no weaponry (something all Decepticons found difficult to do), how effectively he could collect intelligence, his ability to hit nine out of ten fast moving targets dead centre in the spark, and how fast moving he was considering he was one of the quickest Cybertronians in existence. When Wheelie had been in Decepticons company, they had always spoken about the scout with a sort of hatred mingled with slight respected and were still trying to train Decepticons spies to be just as good, if not better, then the yellow scout. Something that was never going to happen, Wheelie knew.

Coming to a halt, Wheelie immediately transformed. "What the frag was that for, you stupid yellow moron?!" He screamed up at the sixteen-foot Autobot, "You slagging know what the pit I look like! _Primus!"_

The scout clicked angrily down at him and Wheelie almost laughed at him. _That's right, you can't talk! _Wheelie thought. _Ha-ha._

"That's the smallest Decepticon I believe I have ever seen," came the rough tone of the Autobots Weapon Specialist. Wheelie looked around and tried not to flinch away. Damn it, he was _massive. _

"So this should be very easy," the Weapon Specialist continued and powered up one of the cannons mounted on his arms.

Wheelie backed away from him, "Easy, you trigger happy fragger. I'm not here to do any harm."

"Liar," he growled, then grinned darkly, "Not that you could do any harm, you so small. The other Decepticons must have just left you here seeing how useless you are."

That insult hit home. "Shut the slag up," Wheelie snapped. How dare the pit-spawned Autobot call him small!

The only answer he got was that damn silent mech making laughing noises and the whining of a cannon. Slag it! Then Wheelie heard the most beautiful sound in the world.

His Warrior Goddess.

"Ironhide, leave Wheelie alone!"

Wheelie turned and watched as she marched up to the Weapon Specialist in all her breathtaking glory and in that moment he decided that nothing in the universe could compare with her.

Ironhide stared down at Mikaela with narrowed optic's. "Leave him alone?" He snapped, "He's a Decepticon that-"

"That defected to the Autobots!" Mikaela said impatiently, "Bumblebee knows what I'm talking about, he was there to hear Wheelie say so!" She rounded on the scout, whom Wheelie was please to see shrink slightly at her glare. "And why didn't you try and stop Ironhide? You knew what he was going to do!"

Bumblebee twittered guiltily rubbing the back of his head, and shrugged.

Mikaela huffed at him and throwing one last look at Ironhide, who quickly powered down his cannon, she turned towards Wheelie. "C'mon," she muttered and stomped away.

Wheelie quickly followed her, but not before he flipped off the scout and Weapon Specialist. Ironhide snarled at him and Wheelie felt a small surge of accomplishment. Being able to piss him off and not get in trouble for it was going to be very entertaining. Wheelie smiled and sped up, catching up to his Warrior Goddess' ankles.

Soon, sooner then Wheelie would have liked anyway (he was having a considerably nice time staring at Mikaela's legs), they arrived where the other Autobots were. The Weapon Specialist and scout marched past them careful to step around Mikaela. Wheelie watched from between her legs as the scout sat down beside the human boy, who gave him a puzzled look, and the trigger happy moron went to sit down next to the Prime.

"Nothing," muttered Ironhide, "Just some little Decepticon that's no bigger then my cannon."

"Must have been easy to pick it off then, 'Hide," grinned a human with short cropped hair. Wheelie glowered at him.

"I wasn't allowed to," Ironhide said flatly.

The short cropped haired human looked up at him, surprise on his face. "Wasn't _allowed _to?"

"I wouldn't allow him to," Mikaela said. Everyone turned towards her. "He defected to the Autobots anyway."

Everyone was silent for a moment, except for Sam who lowered his head and groaned quietly. Bumblebee twittered tonelessly in agreement. Leo and Simmons looked at one another and then comprehension shone on their faces. Simmons half-smirked and muttered, "Know we were forgetting _something_."

"Who has defected?" Prime finally asked. Wheelie trembled slightly. Damn it, he even sounded more powerful then his brother.

"He has," Mikaela said and stepped aside. "This is Wheelie." She prodded him forward and Wheelie did so reluctantly. "Be _nice," _she hissed at him.

Wheelie felt as though his small spark was going to stop. He didn't scare easily, something he was greatly proud of, but now all of his fearlessness flew out the window. Everyone in the clearing (well, the one that didn't know him) stared. Wheelie stared right back. No one made any attempted to ask questions or squish him, so he took that has a good sign. Probably just shocked to see him, nothing more. Wheelie quietly cycled his vents. Okay, so far so good. But after a few moments of silence, Wheelie started to lose patients. Bunch of morons to just sit there and stare. Then his patients flew out the window with his fearlessness.

"Why the frag are you all staring at me?!" Wheelie snapped, "_Primus!"_

Sam snorted softly, "Charming personality, huh?"

Wheelie rounded on him. "Shut the slag up, _Wonder-boy," _he practically shrieked, his anger rushing forward. "You fragging forgot me in that pit-spawned building! I wake up from recharge and you're all frigging gone, without a word! After everything I did for you fragging humans! I showed you where the damn seeker was and without him _none of you would be here!_ You fragging, stupid, son of a glitch!" Here, Wheelie switched to Cybertron. He continued to throw insults out at random, dimly acknowledging that he was acting somewhat like a sparkling.

When Wheelie finished swearing, his anger disappearing rapidly now that he had gotten to yell, he quickly cycled his vents and went on glaring at everyone. Satisfaction filled his spark when he noticed the looks on Wonder-boy, Simmons, Chia-head, the scouts and the twins faces. At least he had managed to make them feel guilty. Sneaking a peep at his Warrior Goddess, Wheelie felt his satisfaction seep away a little when he caught the look of guilt on her face also. _Fraggit._

"We're sorry, Wheelie," apologized Mikaela quietly. She shot Sam, Bumblebee, Simmons, Leo, and the Twins a look. Cringing at the fire of deadly promise in her eyes, they all hesitantly muttered their apology. The other Autobots, Lennox and Epps looked on in interest.

"You'd better be fragging sorry," said Wheelie.

Sam's eye twitched.

"You lead them to the Seeker?" Optimus asked.

Wheelie nodded. "I know where every old Seeker is hiding," he declared proudly. _And a hell of a lot more information too, _he thought.

"Then thank-you, Wheelie," said Optimus. The other Autobots nodded in thanks.

Embarrassed, Wheelie trained his one good optic on the ground. "You're welcome," he mumbled. Being thanked. That was something that had never been done to him before. Wheelie found it oddly pleasing.

"Wait, wait, wait," said the man with the short cropped hair, "what do you mean every _old _Seeker?"

Wheelie shuttered his optic at him. He didn't know? Huh. Wheelie had assumed that Simmons what have gone into one of his weird, long rants about it. Apparently not.

"Cybertronians have been to Earth before," said Wheelie slowly, "A couple thousand years ago. Some never left."

…and that was apparently news to them, from the looks that crossed their faces. How the _slag _could they have not know that?

"Yeah, we forgot to mention that," Sam said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well apparently we have something to talk about on the trip." Mikaela added sheepishly.

"No kidding," said a dark skinned man.

Mikaela smiled and walked over to rejoin Sam and Bumblebee. Wheelie, after hesitating, quickly followed her over. Better to be with his Warrior Goddess then standing like a sparkling among the Autobots. When she settled next to Sam, Wheelie sat beside her right knee. Cycling his tiny vents, Wheelie felt himself relax. Something like this was unheard of when with the Decepticons.

"He seems to like you, Mikaela," said Ratchet.

"I'm her Autobot," said Wheelie loudly. Everyone turned to look at him. "And there's nothing you guys can do about it."

Optimus half-smiled. "Very well, Wheelie. You can be Mikaela's Autobot."

Sam shook his head and Mikaela raised an eyebrow at him. Smiling, Sam shrugged. Mikaela giggled softly. Wheelie watched with his head tilted. What the frag? It was like they just had a private comm link conversation or something. He wasn't sure whether he liked it.

"Not like there'd be much for him to do around base anyway," muttered Ironhide. The Twins snickered.

"Ironhide…"

"Well, c'mon, its _true. _He so tiny."

Wheelie snarled. "This tiny little mech knows a lot of information about the Decepticons you'd might be interested in hearing. So I wouldn't slagging insult him!"

Mikaela slapped him upside the head gently. "I told you to be _nice,_" she growled.

_You will not snap at her, you will not snap at her…_

"Sorry," murmured Wheelie angrily.

Optimus stared at Ironhide unblinkingly. Ironhide sighed and growled, "Sorry."

Wheelie smirked.

"What kind of information?" Lennox asked.

Wheelie smiled happily. With everyone's attention on him, he started to tell them about every bit of information he had gathered over the course of a year. Decepticons they may or may not know about, their location, where the Decepticons battleship _The Nemesis _was. Everything. As he did so, contentment filled his spark. Somehow, betraying the Decepticons was fun.

Wheelie just hoped they didn't find out it was him or he was slagged.

* * *

**Top Five Most Dangerous Autobots on Earth:**

**1. Ironhide.**

**2. Optimus Prime.**

**3. Sideswipe.**

**4. Bumblebee.**

**5. The Arcee's.**

**Some of you make agree or disagree with my list. I don't know much about Jolt, like hell the Twins are considered dangerous, and Ratchet… he's only dangerous when he's angry.**

**Also, in my world, Ironhide trained him so he **_**has **_**to be dangerous because of that. **

**-sigh- Another one-shot that spiraled out of control. Why do they always to that?**

**Poor Optimus. You can basically hear him think, "Why does it feel as though I'm in command of a bunch of younglings sometimes?" Though we all know he wouldn't have it any other way.**

**I don't know if I'll be able to fit this in to later one-shots or not, but Optimus doesn't know that Sam died. None of the Autobots want to inform him about it and neither to the humans. They'll let Sam tell him when he's ready. Don't worry, it'll happen in a later one-shot. I'm just saving it ;) **

**Review please!**


	7. A Small Break

**Authors Note: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! **

**Fixing a problem I noticed in the movie. Egypt and Jordan are 226 miles apart, at least from the Pyramids to the Temple in Petra. It going to take a while to reach the Tomb of the Primes, at least at the speed the 'bots are traveling.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. Simple as that. Enjoy!**

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"Remind me again, man, why those two weren't sent back to base?"

Epps questioning voice pulled Lennox from his current train of thought and he turned to look at the Master Sergeant. Leaning casually up against the cliff wall, arms crossed, Epps portrayed a man that looked as though World War III could be happening around him and not give a damn. Something Lennox could easily relate to. When you fought giant robots from space on a weekly bases somehow World War III looked like child's play.

Unscrewing the top to his water bottle Lennox gave a shrug and took a swing. " 'Cause all the 'bots refused to be sent back to base without Optimus and that includes them," he answered after swallowing.

Epps grunted and continued to watch Skids and Mudflap roll around.

Replacing the top on the bottle, Lennox sighed and stretched content for the time being. No Decepticons to fight, nothing to worry about, they had Prime back. Everything was looking up slightly and Lennox planned to enjoy the small window of relaxation well he still could. Once he was back at NEST all hell would break loose and the outside world would become a thing of daydreams as he sat through meeting after meeting. _Oh well, _he thought, _it's not like I hadn't been expecting it really. We did destroy the Giza Pyramids, broke a dozen laws…_

Shaking his head, Lennox firmly told himself not to think of those things. He would fret about them later. Re-positioning himself, Lennox looked around.

The sun was barely above the horizon and the day was already becoming warm. Even though they had been travelling for hours (all of which were uneventful), leaving well before the sun made its appearance, they were still no where close to their destination and by the way it was looking wouldn't be for a couple of hours (Though they had all agreed to take the trip slowly as there was nothing to rush them along.) The entourage had agreed that after a significant amount of driving a small break was needed. So they went off road and head towards a small collection of giant hills where the Autobots could transform and be comfortable without being seen.

The small break had been a great idea, Lennox decided, even though they had been there for more then a couple of hours. Ironhide was sitting off to the side of the group, back against a cliff face, while checking over the functions of his massive forearm cannons. Something they all knew he could keep up for hours. Jolt and Sideswipe were joking around with Optimus and Ratchet who, for once, didn't look irritated. The Arcee triplets were giggling together. Leo and Simmons seemed to be in a heated argument and Lennox was willing to bet his ridiculous salary that the topic was aliens. Bumblebee was seated in the early morning shadows, Mikaela and Sam carefully perched on his shoulder side be side, none of them talking seeming perfectly happy with being in each others company.

"Why's the kid here?" Epps asked suddenly.

Lennox tore his eyes away from Bumblebee, Sam, and Mikaela to stared at Epps. "What?"

"The kid," Epps said, "Why's he here? Shouldn't he be back at base resting?"

"Yeah, he should be. But Sam refused to leave and no one was going to tell him no after everything he's been through," Lennox told him, "And anyway, the 'bots wanted him here. Said it was safer with them then at headquarters."

"The 'cons aren't goin' to attack so soon, man."

Lennox looked around and then leaned in closer to Epps. "Are you forgetting there's a worldwide man hunt for him?" He muttered quietly.

Epps frowned. "Yeah, I forgot."

"That's why he's here," Lennox said, standing up straight. "Just don't mention it to him, though. The Autobots want him to forget about it for the time being."

"Wasn't planning on it."

"What are you two talking about?" Mikaela's voice asked. Lennox and Epps looked over to find her, Bumblebee, and Sam watching them.

"Nothing," answered Lennox, "Nothing important anyway."

"Yeah right." Sam said, then added, "Who's Galloway?"

Epps and Lennox looked at him blankly, surprised that he know the name. Bumblebee looked amused as every Autobot in the clearing turned to look over and Ironhide started snarling inaudible words under his breath as he viscously twisted a bolt back into place.

"A slaggin' aft-hole," Skids said, pushing Mudflap off of him.

"I wanted ta run 'im over," said Mudflap. "We should 'ave lock 'im in your trunk, Skids," he added to his twin.

"Why my trunk?!"

" 'cause I said so, that's why."

Skids moved to jump on top of Mudflap, who flipped him off, intending to fight with him again but Bumblebee released a few warning clicks and they looked over at him fearfully. Muttering apologize, the twins hastily sat down side by side and proceed to remain quiet. Sam and Mikaela laughed silently. Everyone in the clearing that wasn't Sam, Mikaela, Simmons, or Leo looked at Bumblebee amazed. Ironhide even stopped checking over his cannons.

"Since when did the twins start listening to Bumblebee?" Ratchet asked.

"Since he bashed their heads together and threw them away," Mikaela giggled.

"Bumblebee…" Optimus said, disapprovingly. Ironhide gave Bumblebee a thumbs up behind Primes back.

Releasing a flurry of noise, Bumblebee started to make hand movements and Lennox took it that he was explaining himself over the 'bots comm link. He watched as Bumblebee pointed at the twins, Sam and Mikaela on his shoulder, and then as he carefully tapped Sam on his injured hand. Lennox frowned, confused. Then it clicked in place. The twins had somehow managed to almost hurt Sam and Mikaela and Bumblebee had become upset with them so he had thrown them away. Nice.

After Bumblebee fell silent, Optimus turned to stare down sat the twins. Skids and Mudflap grinned sheepishly up at him.

"We'll talk about this later," promised Optimus, leaving no room for an argument. Not that they would.

"Wha' ever ya say, Prime!" Skids and Mudflap said in unison.

_And knowing Prime, he'll go easy on them, _thought Lennox. He turned back to Sam and them.

"Why'd you wish to know who Galloway was, Sam?" Ratchet asked, semi-consciously scan him.

"Bumblebee mentioned him," said Sam, "A couple of hours ago. He wanted to know what Ironhide was talking about. Galloway being pushed out of a cargo plane or something?"

Lennox faced-palmed, turning red from embarrassment. Great, just great. Next to him Epps was chocking on his laughter and the ground was trembling from the 'bots laughing. This was something he was never going to hear the end off. Lennox sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He didn't mind though. It had been completely worth it.

"Director Galloway," chocked out Epps, "Oh God, the look on his _face…"_

"Wish we could have been there to see it," sighed the blue Arcee wistfully. Her sisters nodded.

"He deserved it though," muttered Ironhide happily. "Slaggin' glitch-head."

"_Still confused, man, still confused," _said Bumblebee's radio.

"Director Galloway was assigned as NEST's liaison by the president," answered Optimus.

Bumblebee made an understanding sound. Sam and Mikaela looked confused. "Liaison?" Mikaela asked.

"A person that maintains communication between two groups or units of an organization," answered Lennox, "Usually in the Armed Forces. Reports back to the president and such."

"Oh," muttered Sam. "So, why was he pushed out of the back of a cargo plane?"

" 'Causes he was a ass-hole," Epps told them, "An ass-_hole. _He shut down NEST and everything."

"Director Galloway has shut NEST down?" Optimus said stunned.

Ironhide flinched and nodded. "He _unofficial_ shut us down." He answered. "Point a gun at me," he added under his breath and snarled.

Optimus' optics narrowed and a thought look bloomed on his face.

"Wait, wait, wait," said Leo loudly, "What the hell is NEST?"

"A secret Military group," Lennox told him, "NEST stands for Network Elements: Support and Transformers. Formed it after what happened in Mission City."

"I still can't believe that happened," Leo said, "And I can't even tell anyone about it!"

"Sucks to be you," Simmons muttered.

Sam and Mikaela smiled at one another and Bumblebee twittered. They laughed quietly. Lennox gave them a confused look but shrugged it off. Must be an inside joke.

"We've been sitting here to long," Ironhide stated, getting to his feet. "We should move on."

"What's the rush, 'Hide," Sam asked, pulling Mikaela closer, "Its not like we have anywhere really important to be. We can spare a few hours."

"Yeah, Big Guy," Lennox said, "Sit back down." He himself sat down where he had been standing. He raised an eyebrow at Ironhide. Ironhide simply stared at him.

"Sit down, Ironhide," said Optimus, amused, "Sam's right. There is no rush."

Bumblebee chirped at him. Ironhide gave a heaving sigh in defeat and sat back down. Lennox smiled.

"Fine," Ironhide growled. Leo looked terrified at him and inched away. Simmons rolled his eyes. "But only for a little while." He added.

Sam laughed quietly. "Man, Ironhide, have you ever heard of stopping to smell the flowers?"

"_Nope," _answered Bumblebee cheekily. _"Though, you would expect him to considering his age."_

The Autobots stared at Bumblebee in disbelief. Sideswipe looked as though he wanted to burst into applaud at Bumblebee's daring and Jolt waved goodbye to him. Sam and Mikaela were fighting smiles down. Lennox shook his head. If there was one thing he had learnt after two years of working with the 'bots, it was don't mention Ironhide's age or you'd regret it.

Ironhide snarled at him and pointed a threatening finger in Bumblebee's direction. "Shut it you fraggin' younglin'!" The clearing echoed his thundering voice. "Or so help me Primus," he left the threat hanging.

Bumblebee raised his hand to his faceplate and, with his thumb touching his nose ridge, wiggled his fingers at him. Ironhide stared at him, optics narrowing. Then he jumped to his feet, as fast as his ancient body would allow him, and stomped over to Bumblebee. Bumblebee, after carefully and quickly putting Sam and Mikaela on the ground, got to his feet and walked away from Ironhide, clicking and chirping at him in a taunting manor. Ironhide launched at him. Bumblebee dodged, rolled and transformed, racing away.

"Come back here, you disrespectful little mech!" Ironhide hollered after him. Bumblebee performed a 180 and mockingly backed away as if to say 'come and get me.' Ironhide released a number of swears in Cybertronian and transformed, racing out to Bumblebee who twittered and quickly backed away.

"For Primus sake," Ratchet swore, "Be careful! I don't want to have to fragging repair you two again after everything that's slagging happened! _Are you even listening to me?!"_

"By the looks of it, no their not listening to you, Ratchet," said Sideswipe.

Ratchet glared at him.

Optimus chuckled. "Relax, Ratchet," he told his CMO, "I'm sure Ironhide and Bumblebee will do no harm to one another."

Ratchets optics flicked over to his leader. "Their acting like a bunch of younglings," he grumbled.

"Well, isn't Bumblebee the youngest, basically making him a youngling?" Mikaela asked, rubbing Sam's less injured hand. They had both sat down where Bumblebee had previously been sitting.

Ratchet huffed. "Well, yes," he said, "But still…" He looked ready to blow a fuse.

"I will tell them to stop in a bit," Optimus promised. Ratchet's vents hummed, clearly betraying the message that that wasn't soon enough.

"Oh, you think that's funny?!" They heard Ironhide shout and turned to watch as he performed a u-turn. "Just you wait! I'll show you what's funny!"

"_I'd like to see you try, old man!" _a voice crowed from Bumblebee's radio.

"Bumblebee's really asking for it," commented Epps.

"Bumblebee is just playing around, as is Ironhide" Optimus said, "Ironhide would never do any real harm to Bumblebee, whom he considers to be a younger brother."

"We all consider him as a younger brother," stated Sideswipe. The Arcee's nodded in agreement.

"Are you guys actually brothers?" Leo asked timidly. Simmons looked mildly interested at the question.

"No," Ratchet answered, "None of us had the same Creator. But we have been together for so long that we consider each other family."

"How long?"

Optimus smiled. Leo was a curious one, he'd give him that. "Longer then human civilization has existed."

Leo gaped at him. "Seriously?!"

"Yeah, that was pretty much the reaction we had when they told us," Mikaela said. Sam smiled and kissed her jaw line. Mikaela laid her head on his shoulder and smiled at him.

"_No fair, no fair!" _Screamed a man's voice. They looked over again. Ironhide had Bumblebee trapped against a wall, stalking him back and forth as Bumblebee desperately attempted to get out. They all watched, interested.

"It was so fair," Ironhide growled at him, "and you slaggin' know it."

Bumblebee buzzed angrily at him.

Ironhide laughed. "I caught the spy," he mocked, "I caught the spy. Ha-ha."

Bumblebee stopped dead.

"This is so not going to be good," muttered Jolt.

"I am _so _recording this!" Sideswipe said, delighted. "I can't wait to show it to him!" Lennox absently wondered who Sideswipe meant.

Bumblebee remained stationary for a full minute, the time in which Ironhide continued to taunt him, before swerving around, sand kicking up in his a wake, and transforming. He threw him self at Ironhide, who had triggered his own transformation sequence a millisecond after Bumblebee. They collided and rolled around, each trying to get the upper hand. Bumblebee released a grunt when Ironhide managed to pin him down, but counter attacked by squirming out and flipping over Ironhide so he was on top. Ironhide snarled, a laugh clearly audible under it.

"Primus," moaned Ratchet, "I going to have to slagging repair them again!"

"I am sure they will do no harm to one another," Optimus said. His dark blue optic's were twinkling in amusement.

"C'mon 'Bee," shouted Sam, "Kick his aft!"

"Go Bumblebee!" Mikaela cheered.

Bumblebee twittered happily at them and dodged one of Ironhide's massive hands, twisting behind him. Ironhide pretended to twisted after him but changed course half way through and caught Bumblebee as he went to dodge again and put him in a head lock. Bumblebee clicked at him.

"C'mon, Bumblebee," Ironhide growled at him, "I taught you better then that! That trick was one of the most obvious on the microchip!"

Bumblebee kicked Ironhides legs out from under him and managed to release his head as Ironhide fell to the desert floor with a grunt. Bumblebee slammed on top of him, grabbing both of his hands and pulling them behind Ironhides back, well entangling one of his legs between Ironhides to create minimal movement. Ironhide struggled, frowning. Lennox smiled. _Lets see you get out of that without your cannons, Big Guy._

Ironhide elbowed Bumblebee in the faceplate, soft enough as to not hurt him but hard enough so Bumblebee would release one of his hands. When Bumblebee did so, Ironhide managed to grab a hold of one of Bumblebees forearms and, using his back as a leverage, flipped him over so they were facing one another. Ironhide grabbed a hold of Bumblebee's waist and slammed him into the ground, Bumblebee releasing a warped scream of surprise. Ironhide jumped on top of him and pinned Bumblebee down. Laughter was dancing in his optics. Bumblebee chirped and clicked at him, struggling to free himself.

"All right, you two," Optimus said, "That's enough."

Ironhide crawled of off Bumblebee, clicking a gear back into place. Bumblebee shook his head back and forth, clearing the sand from his optics. Ironhide released another laugh and helped him up. Bumblebee twittered gratefully at him.

"Glad to see you haven't forgotten what I taught you, 'Bee," Ironhide told him, patting his back.

Bumblebee buzzed. "Th-aa-_ktzz-_k yo-_zz,_" he said.

"Don't slagging use you voice!" Ratchet snapped at him, irritation pouring off him. "Primus, how many times to I have to tell you?!"

Optimus chuckled and shook his giant head. "We should continue on," he said, rising to his feet. The Autobots followed suit.

"Sure thing, Prime," Lennox said. Him and Epps walked over to Ironhide, who transformed and opened his two front doors.

Bumblebee walked over to Sam and Mikaela, and folded down into a Camero. Mikaela helped Sam into the drivers seat, who was still forbidden by Ratchet to walk on his one foot, before walking over to the passenger side and hopping in.

When everyone was ready, the Autobots headed out for the distant highway, the now late afternoon sun shinning down from the sky. Lennox relaxed in Ironhides drive seat, fully enjoying the A/C that was on high, and concluded again that the small break had been worth it.

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**Why, oh why, do these things insist on going left when I want to take a right?! Primus…**

**I'm might not be able to update this for a while. Schools starting to take up most of my time. At least with the day lights savings starting tomorrow I'll be able to get an extra hour of sleep :)**

**I like the idea of Bumblebee being the youngest Autobot. Skids and Mudflap can bite me.**

"_**I am so recording this!" Sideswipe said, delighted. "I can't wait to show it to him!" Lennox absently wondered who Sideswipe meant. **_**Now, can anyone tell me who Sideswipe is talking about? It should be obvious.**__

**Review's earn you things. Cyber-cookies, cupcakes, plushies, a Camero… So please review. I'm a sucker for feedback. Thank-you! **


	8. Murphy's Law

**Authors Note: Thank you, thank you for all the wonderful reviews! **

**I lied. Apparently I had enough time to write this. Ha-ha. Though **_**now **_**I'll be concentrating on my school work.**

**Sorry if you find any spelling or grammar mistakes.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers. Simple as that. Enjoy!**

* * *

Robert Epps, Master Sergeant of _Networked Elements: Supports and Transformers, _was being cruelly tempted. Very cruelly tempted. Fate just had to been mean sometimes, didn't it?

Because standing in front of them, dirt covering every inch of his body, hair in disarray, glasses smudged, and snarling at them, was the last being on the planet he wanted to see.

Director Galloway.

They had come across him at the Egyptian border, screaming at one of the officers there. Lennox had released a quiet groan upon seeing Galloway, sinking down in Ironhides drivers seat until he was almost level with the gas petal. Ironhide had growled and stated to the rest of the Autobots that they should move as fast as possible so they wouldn't have to pick the slagger up and Lennox had quickly agreed. They would have, given the chance, but Galloway had turned to look over in their direction and had screamed upon seeing them. So, now they were a five-and-a-half miles away from the border, the Autobots parked in a semi circle, with a seething Liaison pacing in front of them.

Oh, the joy.

At least Optimus had had enough sense to order Bumblebee to keep Sam and Mikaela locked in his cab, all the windows completely blacked out. Sam and Mikaela had protested, of course, saying that they did not need to hide from someone that didn't pose much of a threat. But a quick exclamation from Optimus had calmed them down. They didn't need Galloway freaking out over the appearance of the Worlds Most Wanted 'criminal.' Sam had huffed at this and had not spoken a word since. Epps had shrugged the matter off. The kid would get over it.

The Autobots, Lennox, and Epps remained quiet warily watching as Galloway worked up a proper fury. His face was completely red and his lips had thinned into almost none existence. Epps internally sighed. _Any minutes now, he'll explode,_ he thought. His back muscle strained to remain in the board straight positions he was currently standing in and sweat glistened off his forehead from the afternoon sun.

Galloway stopped in his track and whirled around to face them. _Here we go. _"Do you release how much trouble you're in for the little stunt you pulled on the airplane?" He hissed at Lennox. Lennox remained still, eyes staring straight ahead.

"No sir, Director Galloway, sir," Lennox said, sounding almost bored.

Galloway poked him hard in the chest. "Your just lucky that I don't throw you in Federal Prison!" He snarled, "But I can guarantee that your career in the military is over!" Galloway rounded on Epps. "Your's too! Since you were in on his little plan! When we return to Diego Garcia you are to pack your bags immediately and will be escort from base, pending further orders! Am I understood?"

Lennox and Epps glanced at one another. "Sorry, Director Galloway, sir," said Lennox, unmistakeable glee in his voice. "But only General Morshower can dismiss us."

Galloway narrowed his eyes. "The president had given me control of NEST," he snapped, "Which allows me to dismiss who ever I please. So, you two are here by dismissed from NEST and the American military."

Ironhides engine growled and he jerked forward a bit. Galloway glared at the Topkick.

"Tell the aliens to- to what ever it is they do," he ordered Lennox. "Stand up or whatever."

"Sir, we are not in a very secure area," Lennox frowned, "As safety and a precaution, I believe it would be best if they-"

Galloway cut him off. "The secrets out after that worldwide broadcast, so _don't _talk to me about safety and precaution measures! Tell them to-transform!"

Epps and Lennox looked around the semi-circle of Autobots, frowning. Epps' eyes lingered on Bumblebee and, hidden by the heavily tinted windows, Sam and Mikaela. This was so not going to be good. Optimus sighed. "Do as Director Galloway wishes," he said, then quickly added something in Cybertronian. If Epps hadn't been around the 'bots for close to two years, he would have missed it.

Skids and Mudflap opened their doors and Leo and Simmons exited. Galloway jumped in shock at their appearance. Epps hide a smile, trying to keep his face as neutral as possible. After a brief hesitant, Bumblebee opened his doors to allow Sam and Mikaela to hop out. Mikaela looked nervous, though she tried to hide it. Sam had donned the hoodie and leather jacket he had brought with him, his hat pulled low over his face, hoodie hood up. Bumblebee transformed and Sam and Mikaela casually stepped back so they were directly below him, hidden slightly by his massive feet.

The rest of the Autobots followed Optimus' orders. Galloway visible paled at the seven towering beings over him and backed up a few feet. Epps snorted and crossed his arms. They weren't that intimidating.

Galloway decided to focus on the four new humans instead. "Who are they?" He asked briskly, pointing toward whom he meant.

Lennox frowned, then moved forward to make the introductions. The Autobots followed his movements, Epps with them. This was not good. What was Lennox going to say when he introduced Sam? Quickly, Lennox walked past Sam and Mikaela and over to Simmons and Leo. Galloway crossed his arms.

"Director Galloway, sir, this is-umm, Agent Simmons of Sector Seven," Lennox said. Simmons smirked and raised a hand in greeting at Galloway. Galloway didn't even bother to nod in acknowledgment. "And this is Leo Spitz, freshmen from Princeton University."

Galloway frowned. "Have I seen you somewhere before?" He shot at Leo.

Leo blinked at him and tried not to let his nervousness show. "I run the _realeffingdeal dot com," _he said smoothly, "Maybe you know me from there?"

Galloway just looked at him.

"And this is Mikaela Banes, one of the first to meet the Autobots," Lennox hurriedly said. Galloway looked over. Mikaela glared at him, blue eyes flashing. Epps clenched his fists against his chest and the Autobots remained completely still. "And-Seth-Wilkinson," Lennox stammered, stopping beside Sam. "A new solider at NEST."

"Director Galloway, sir," Sam muttered. One of Bumblebee's fingers twitched.

Galloway looked back and forth between Simmons, Leo, Mikaela, and Sam. "What are they doing here?"

"We have something of importance to attend to," Optimus quickly said, "And I requested that they accompany us well we take care of the matter."

Galloway was still looking back and forth between Simmons, Leo, Mikaela, and Sam. Epps sucked in a breath, nervousness churning his stomach. "Is that so?" Galloway asked icily.

"Yes, sir," Lennox said.

Galloway pursed his lips. "Sam Witwicky was known to be travelling with you three," he told Mikaela, Leo, and Simmons, "Along with the yellow one," he jerked a thumb up at Bumblebee. "Strange that you're all here but he's not. Care to explain why?"

Epps and Lennox shared a look. This was so not going to go down well. Ironhide tapped one of his cannons, optics narrowing. Lennox stepped forward. "Director Galloway-"

"Quiet, Lennox!" Galloway snapped at him. "I want to hear it from those three why Witwicky is not present!" He whipped his head around again. "Well?" He demanded.

"He was left behind in the United States when we were teleported here," Simmons lied, voice even. Leo and Mikaela tried to look as though this story wasn't new to them. "As to his currents whereabouts is something we do not know, sir."

Galloway didn't look convinced. "Is that so?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then do you care to tell me why the yellow didn't not also stay behind well you were teleported here?" Galloway asked, a smirking forming. "As I was informed, is he not the boys guardian? It would only make sense for him to remain behind to protect his charge."

_We're dead,_ thought Epps, _ten times over._

"Sam asked that _Bumblebee _accompany Simmons, Leo, and myself to Egypt in case we need protecting from the Decepticons," Mikaela jumped in. Bumblebee nodded in agreement.

"Are you not his girlfriend?" Galloway asked Mikaela. When she nodded, he continued, "I just seem to find it strange that he would allow you to run in the face of danger well he himself remained behind, possibly safe and sound. Not very nice of him, now is it? Nor very brave, either."

Mikaela snarled at him and lunged forward, intending to bring as much harm to Galloway has she could. Bumblebee quickly shifted a foot in her path and Sam latched on to her waist. Galloway just stood still, the smirk on his face full blown and watched as Mikaela struggled with Sam. She was hissing at Galloway. Epps heard Ironhide snarl and the crackle of his massive cannons, and he looked up at the Autobots. Each looked as though they would like nothing more then to rip Galloway to shreds.

"In all due respect, Galloway," Lennox snarled, dropping all casualties, "Samuel Witwicky is one of the bravest beings out there. I believe you should not go around disrespecting him like that."

Galloway looked at him. "I don't care what you believe, Lennox," he said, "It is nothing more then a waste of my time to even listen to them. Now, why doesn't Mr Witwicky take his hat off and properly join us?"

Releasing the still fuming Mikaela, Sam brushed his hood back and whipped his hat off. Bumblebee buzzed down at him, shooting Galloway a deadly look. "He already knew, 'Bee," Sam muttered, "So it really doesn't make a difference."

"I knew from the beginning, Witwicky," Galloway informed him. Sam glared at him. "Seth Wilkinson was a poor cover up, too, Lennox. The initials are the same. How come he is not under arrest?" Galloway added, staring coolly around the group.

Bumblebee growled deeply at him and slide his face mask into place. _"I so dare you," _snarled a mans voice over the radio.

"Bumblebee," warned Optimus. Bumblebee crossed his arms but didn't slide his mask back to its proper place on his head. "Why would we place Sam under arrest?" he added, equally coolly, to Galloway. "He has done nothing wrong."

Galloway looked up at him. "Did you fry a few circuits well you were dead, you pile of scrap metal?" He sneered. "The boy is a worldwide wanted criminal!"

Epps started forward. That was it! How dare Galloway say something like that. He was going to beat the crap out of Galloway until he was nothing more then pulp! But Lennox grabbed a hold of his arm and pulled him back. Epps struggled. "Let me the fuck go, man!" He screamed. Lennox just shook his head, to mad for words.

Bumblebee had grabbed the twins as the made to jump at Galloway and was now holding them by the back of their necks as the yelled insults and threats at Galloway. Sideswipe, Ratchet, Jolt, and the Arcee triplets were latched onto Ironhide, who had fired off a couple of rounds, and were struggling to hold him back. All of them looked furious, Optimus trying to calm them all down. Mikaela ran towards Galloway, fury in her eyes, fist balled, ready to punch and beat him. But Sam managed to beat her to Galloway…

Epps stopped pulling against Lennox, both of them going completely still in shock. Every Autobot went quiet, Ratchet, Jolt, Sideswipe, and the Arcee's letting go of Ironhide, their mouths gaping. Ironhide didn't even seem to notice that his captures had let go of him, blinking down in surprise. The twins went limp in Bumblebee grasp. Bumblebee himself slide his mask back in to its proper place, so as to get a better look, twittering in astonishment.

Galloway was on the ground, hands covering his nose, a large amount of blood pouring forth, covering his lower jaw in red and splattering his glasses. Tears were leaking from his eyes and both cheek bones looked broken. Above him stood Sam, his one good hand balled into a fist, eyes narrowed in anger, breathing heavily. His cheeks were flushed and he was grinding his teeth. Epps tried to remember a time when the kid had been this angry and couldn't come up with one. No one moved.

"What the fuck, you little bastard!" Screeched Galloway, voice pinched. He attempted to stand up but fell to his knees. "Are you fucking stupid?! I'm going to lock you away in Federal Prison for that, under-fucking-stood?! You and that God-damn girlfriend of yours and turn that Camero in to scrap metal!"

Sam just looked down at him in disgust. Simmons, who had been standing quietly off to one side, walked unnoticed over to Galloway and quickly jabbed him in the back with his tazer. Galloway sucked in a shocked and painful breath before he slumped over unconscious.

"What?" He snapped and limped back to stand among Bumblebee's feet.

"Primus, boy," said Ironhide, awed, "I did not know you could throw a punch! I'm so slaggin' proud!"

"Neither did we," said Lennox. Epps nodded.

Sam just grumbled, kicking up sand. Mikaela walked back over, stunned slightly and pecked him on the cheek, smiling.

"Good job, Wonder-boy!" Simmons laughed, "Honestly, I didn't think you had it in you!"

Optimus just stared at Sam, head titled to one side, frowning. "Sam-" he said, then stopped.

"Sorry," Sam muttered, "He was pissing me off."

Bumblebee released the Twins, letting them fall to earth, and clicked disapprovingly at Sam. Sam just looked up at him eyes still narrowed in anger, and rubbed his already bruising knuckle. Ratchet swore in Cybertronian at the injury. Sam looked at him.

"Yeah, sorry, Ratchet," he mumble, anger leaking away.

"Nothing serious," Ratchet grumbled, "Though, please, refrain from hurting yourself further and I'll have to take a look at your foot again, just to make sure you have not broken anything else."

Sam nodded, staring at the ground.

Leo cleared his throat. "Maybe we should leave before the police come and investigate what was going on over here," he suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea," Jolt said. He walked over and fixed the pot marked ground from Ironhides cannons.

"What are we going to do about Mr I-rule-the-world over there?" Simmons asked, nodding at the unconscious Galloway.

"Can't we just leave him?" Sam muttered.

"I'm afraid not, Sam," Lennox said, clapping him on the back gently, "As tempting as that sounds…"

"Lets lock 'im in my trunk," Mudflap said, eagerly, "We can carry 'im around dat way!"

"I agree wit' Mudflap!" Skids said. "Lets do dat!"

Optimus frowned at them.

"He deserves more then that," growled Ironhide, "But I like it anyway. Who agrees?"

Everyone raised their hands, Optimus raising his when Ironhide looked at him, optic ridge raised. Mudflap transformed quickly and popped his trunk open. Skids, non-to gently, placed Galloway inside, making sure to knock Galloway's head again the side. Skids slammed the trunk shut. "You can't carry 'im around like dat for evar, man."

"Its only for now, Skids," Optimus said, "And you will let him out later, Mudflap," he ordered.

"What are we going to do with him later, when he wakes up?" Mikaela asked, rubbing Sam's bruised knuckle gently. Sam mumbled something inaudible under his breath.

"We'll decide when it comes to it," Optimus told her.

"Just keep him away from Wonder-boy," Simmons smirked, "And maybe it will go over smoothly."

Sam glared at him. Simmons mockingly raised his hands, "Just kiddin'."

Epps just shook his head and wiped the sweat from his forehead. His face was starting to feel chapped from the contently blowing wind. "Galloway's gonna have to come with us, isn't he?"

Lennox's shoulders sagged. "Appears so," he said unhappily.

"Who's got duct tape?" Simmons asked, "Anyone?"

Everyone shook their head.

"Damn it," Simmons muttered.

"Egyptian police force four clicks," Sideswipe informed them, "Looks to be only three vehicles, but it would still be beside if we left quickly."

Optimus nodded. "Autobots, roll out," he ordered, transforming back into a Peterbilt truck.

Ironhide folded down and Epps and Lennox rushed over, climbing in. Epps gently slammed the door shut and clicked his seat belt into place. Through the windshield, Epps watched as Sam and Mikaela climbed into Bumblebee, the windows still completely blacked out. Sam's jaw was still set but most of the anger had leaked out of his face. Epps shook his head, laughing silent. Galloway had had it coming to him but Epps had never suspected that Sam would be the one to hand it to him. The kid had earned a little more of Epps respect.

The Autobots set off just as the lights of the first police car shone on the horizon.

* * *

**Don't like the last couple of lines. They feel rushed.**

**You now Galloway's pissed Ratchet off when he doesn't even want to treat you. Also, sorry if Sam went out of character when he punched Galloway. Honestly, though, I just wanted it to happen.**

**Also, because I've been hearing so much negative feedback about it, I changed it from Sam kicking Galloway in the head to Simmons knocking him out with his tazer. Hopefully that's a hell of a lot better. I wrote it will in a bad mood, forgive me.**

**I'll try to update **_**The Simulator **_**soon, I promise.**

**Review's earn you things. Cyber-cookies, cupcakes, plushies, a Camero… So please review. I'm a sucker for feedback. Thank-you! **


	9. Are We There Yet?

**Authors Note: No, I am not dead. I have just been really, really busy with school and all that.**

**Thanks for the reviews!**

**Bumblebee is stringing sentences together from various audio clips. **

**Sorry if you find any sort of spelling mistake.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers. Simple as that. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Are we _there _yet?" A collective groan sounded throughout the cab.

"Does it _look_ as though we're there?!"

"…No."

"Then we not."

Leo sighed and leaned back into Bumblebee's back seat. Could this road trip be anymore boring? When Major Lennox informed him that they would be making a small detour back to the Tomb of the Primes, Leo had at first been surprised that he was included in the 'they' and then beside himself that he would once again be travelling with the Autobots. He had spent the best part of an hour after being told about the road trip envisioning what it would possibly be like. Cool alien races, driving at warp-speed, everything a _Star Wars _and _Star Trek _film had ever taught him.

But _this. _This made him want to tear every hair out of his scalp one by one. Anything to escape the boredom. Aliens weren't suppose to drive in a perfect line, Optimus leading and Ironhide bring up the rear, nor were they suppose to drive at the speed limit. A slowly moving eighty miles per hour. They were suppose to drive in a cluster, driving at what ever speed they wanted. Not like this.

_Oh God, make it end!_

Leo shifted in his seat, impatiently tapping his foot. Looking out of the window was out of the option, as there was nothing of interest to look at but sand and more sand. Every electronic item that had been on him had either been destroyed by Jetfire's space bridge or Sam (though Leo had decided to forgive him for the phone jumping incident. The guy had been under a huge amount of pressure.) So playing tetras was out also. He could pester Sam and Mikaela for more information on the Autobots. That would surely pass some of the time. Leo raised an eyebrow and smiled. _And I believe we have a winner,_ he thought.

"Hey!" Leo said loudly, slamming his hand into the back of Sam's head rest. Mikaela started, spilling some water over the passenger seat, and Sam swore, turning to glare at him. "I wanna know more about the Autobots."

"How about I show you how Ironhides cannons work?" Mikaela hissed, mopping the spilled water up with a rag. "Sorry 'Bee," she added.

"It-zzz alskk righzzz," crackled Bumblebee.

"All right?" Sam muttered, "Way to give me a heart-attack, Leo."

Mikaela huffed at Sam, who grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Leo said quickly, releasing his seatbelt. Bumblebee twittered angrily at him. Leo glanced at the radio (he had always imaged this as Bumblebee's face when he was a Camero) and simply smirked. "C'mon, Bumblebee. Like _hell _I need to wear a seatbelt. There's, like, no one out here but us!"

Bumblebee released a string of grappled noises and fell silent. Sam patted the steering wheel.

"Leo," started Mikaela, looking at him. Her blue eyes shone in the afternoon light and Leo felt his heart melt a little. Could she be anymore perfect?

"No, no," Sam told her, winking. "Let him find out on his own."

Mikaela contemplated this for a moment before grinning and turning back around to face the front. Leo felt a surge of fear in his gut. What did Sam mean by that?

"You guys aren't going to do anything to me, right?" He blurted out.

"_Maybe, maybe not," _answered a mans voice from the radio. _"You'll just have to wait and see."_

"No, seriously, are you?" Leo asked, voice picking up speed. " 'Cause after all that crazy shit back there I'm not sure I can handle a-"

"So!" Sam interrupted, turning to grin at Leo. The sun glinted off a burn on his cheek and Leo tried not to stare at it. "What-"

Suddenly, Bumblebee's cab was filled with a loud beeping. Leo started, glancing around him wildly, heart beat picking up. Was that some sort of alarm? Were they being attacked again? Oh God, no. He couldn't go through that again, not now. It was far to soon. Sam, Mikaela, and Bumblebee, though, weren't reacting to the noise at all and Leo wondered if the three were so use to a sound of an alarm that, when sounded, it failed to produce any panicked reaction.

Sam, on his part, was still looking at Leo, an amused expression on his face. "Wish I had a camera," he muttered.

"_Already filmed it," _whispered a voice to his left. Sam grinned. _"Storing it…away to upload…to youtube later."_

"Filmed anything else?" Sam whispered, watching as Mikaela explained to Leo that the beeping was nothing more then a walkie-talkie.

"_Yes," _came the reply, _"Been filming…off and on…since…Leo's…freak out a few days…ago."_

"Think we can use any off it as blackmail?"

" _Oh, Defiantly."_

Bumblebee and Sam laughed quietly. "Then keep filmin', 'Bee." Sam mumbled.

"_Aye, aye."_

"They gave you guys a walkie-talkie?" Leo was asking shakily. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Sam twisted back to face the front, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. What was he smiling about?

"Yeah, so we could stay in touch," Mikaela said, "So there's no need to freak out."

Leo leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. "Sorry if a guys a little on edge," he muttered sourly.

"Yeah, well, get use to it." Sam said, eyes closed. He rubbed his shoulder, frowning.

Leo opened his mouth but before he could get a word out, Lennox was speaking over the walkie-talkie. Mikaela carefully placed it in one of the cup holders, making sure that the speaker was facing them.

"_You four all right in there?" _Lennox asked. Leo turned to look out the back window. Lennox, sitting in Ironhides front seat, waved at him. Leo hesitantly waved back.

"Everything is just super, Will," Sam answered. He re-opened his eyes and sat up straight.

"_Yeah right, Sam," _Lennox said, _"I see you rubbing your shoulder."_

"Its fine," muttered Sam angrily, "Just burning a little."

"_Ratchet will wan-"_

"What are the other Autobots up to, Will?" Mikaela asked quickly. She winked at Sam and he smiled back in gratitude. "All of them have been very quiet."

"_Briefing Prime," _Epps said, _"Informin' him of what happened while he was, uh…away. In detail this time, not just a quick summary."_

Sam and Mikaela glanced at the radio. Leo watched quietly, feeling boredom start to creep up on him again. He started to count the stitching on the back of Sam's seat, eyes half-closed. He wondered briefly whether Sharsky and Fassbinder were having a field day over the worldwide broadcast. Hopefully they'd managed to recorded it and put it up on the website.

"_I chose…not to…partake in the…briefing," _answered Bumblebee slowly.

"_Ironhide told us," _Lennox said.

"Yeah, 'Bee," Sam said, frowning at the radio. "How come?"

"_I have more important matters to attend to," _Bumblebee said, switching gears. _"Prime…is okay…with me…informing him…about what happened…while away…from others…later."_

"What important matters?" Leo piped in impatiently. "There's nothing important out here!"

"_And apparently, the last week and a bit has taught Leo nothing," _sighed Lennox. Epps snorted.

"_Sam and Mikaela… are…of course…the important matters," _Bumblebee said stiffly.

Leo looked blankly at the radio, then blushed. "Oh right. Sorry," he mumbled, feeling stupid. He should have known that. During the previous week Bumblebee had always, at least to Leo, gone out of his way to make sure that Sam and Mikaela were all right. From making sure that they had food and water to staying up all night with Sam when he couldn't sleep, allowing him to absently draw symbols on his shine plate as they talked.

Sam patted the steering wheel, smiling, and Mikaela leaned across to kiss the Autobot insignia in the middle of the steering wheel.

"_Aww, shucks," _Bumblebee said, embarrassed.

"Thanks, 'Bee," Sam said. Mikaela nodded.

"We should do something for him," she proposed, undoing her seatbelt and sliding onto Sam lap. Sam carefully wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck. Leo looked out the window, envious. How Sam had managed to get a girl like Mikaela would always remain a mystery to him.

"Yeah, we should," agreed Sam.

"_Wash and wax?" _Bumblebee suggested happily.

Leo giggled quietly. A giant robot wanting a wash and wax? He'd have to see that.

"Sure," murmured Sam, eyes closed. "Anything you want."

Bumblebee chirped cheerfully.

"We'll give you one once we're on the ship back to NEST," Mikaela told Bumblebee.

Leo leaned in between the front seats. "So, basically you two are going to give him a bath?"

"Call it what ever you want," sighed Mikaela. "Tell me again. Why are you riding with us?"

Leo snorted. "Jeez, do I feel loved," he muttered.

"_He's riding with you two," _Lennox cut in, _"because we thought maybe it wasn't a great idea to let him ride with Mudflap after that little insistent that happened between the two when we had to stop. We don't need anyone else injured nor for anymore arguments. The ones between Skids and Mudflap are enough."_

"There arguments aren't that bad,"Leo said, "Just a little annoying."

Everyone laughed at him.

"_Wait till you've been around them a little longer," _Epps laughed. _"You haven't seen nothing yet. They ca-kazzz."_

The cab was filled with static as the walkie-talkie failed to keep a connection. Mikaela reached over to grab the device from the cup-holder, Sam groaning slightly in pain when she moved. Leo turned his head to glance out the back window. Lennox was beating the walkie-talkie against his hand, turning the knob on the top, trying to re-establish a connection.

Leo sighed and laid his head up against the window. He absently wondered what was happening back a Princeton. Whether or not they had managed to clean up the mess that Alice had made. Surely their dorm room had been searched, so all his and Sam's stuff had been rifled through while they tried to locate the source of the blast. Leo scrunched his face in disgust. He hated it when people went through his things. It left him feeling violated somehow. He wondered, also, whether Sam and him what be allowed back. The dean would probably see them as dangerous students and expel them. Great. So he'd probably have to find another school that would take him. There went his plans for the future.

Though, Leo decided he was still better off then Sam. The guy couldn't even show his face in public because of the Fallen's broadcast. So the possibility of him getting into another school was at an all time minimum. Leo wouldn't be surprised if Sam had to change his name or simply disappear of the face of the earth to led a normal life (as much as a normal life as he could live while knowing alien robots.)

"_Piece of crap!" _Lennox shouted, startling them all. Bumblebee swerved a little.

"We can hear you!" Mikaela said loudly, "Will, we can hear you again!"

"_Finally," _Lennox said, _"With all the funding NEST gets you'd think they'd give us better walkie-talkies."_

"_Starscream destroyed all the good equipment with that EMP burst of his," _Epps told him, _"So this is all we got. Suck it up."_

"You should invent something," Sam said tiredly, "Something like the 'bots comm links. Small and fleshed coloured so the can fit into your ear and be undetectable by the necked human eye, and any electronic device. Something that EMP burst wouldn't knock out and would allow you to communicate with one another no matter where on the planet you are, even underwater."

"_Hmm…that actually sounds like a good idea, Sam," _Lennox said thoughtfully.

"_We should… get wheel…jack…to work…on it…when he arrives," _Bumblebee said.

"Sounds like a plan," mumbled Sam. He rested his head against Mikaela shoulder and closed his eyes. She carefully stroked his hair.

"Who's Wheeljack?" Leo asked, thinking over what Bumblebee said.

"_One of the craziest aliens you will ever meet," _Epps said, _"Though, we've only heard of him from Ironhide."_

Bumblebee twittered.

"_He's the Autobots scientist/ inventor," _Lennox informed Leo, _"Though, apparently, he has a tendencies to blow most of his inventions up."_

Leo swallowed. "Great to know."

"_We should get you and Wheeljack working on that communication device you mentioned, Sam, once he arrives." _Lennox said. _"Sam?"_

"He fell asleep," Mikaela said quietly. She continued to stroke his hair. "My poor Sam."

"_Well, that's good." _Lennox said, keeping his voice low. _"Ratchet will be happy he's getting some rest."_

"_As am I," _muttered Bumblebee.

"_You and Leo should get some sleep, too, Mikaela," _Lennox ordered them. _"I know for a fact you guys didn't sleep very much last night."_

Mikaela looked suspiciously at the radio. A whistling track played. "Oh, you told them," she accused Bumblebee.

"Skids kept me up," Leo lied.

"_Yeah right," _Lennox said, _"Get some sleep. We should be a Petra by sunset, so we'll wake you once we get there." _With that, Lennox disconnected the walkie-talkies.

Leo reached over and shut the walkie-talkie off before Mikaela could get to it. She smiled at him gratefully and curled up to Sam, who sighed happily in his sleep.

"We'll tell you more about the Autobots later," she promised.

He nodded and stretched out on the backseat. All of the windows around them started to darken until the cab was pitch black and Leo could just make out calming music playing over the radio.

_Huh, _Leo thought, _I didn't know he could do that do the windows. Neat._

Well, at least he had leant a couple things about the Autobots today.

* * *

**Sorry for the long delay. Though it will probably be awhile before I update again.**

**And once again, we have something that went left instead of right.**

**About Sam and Bumblebee's whispered conversation without Mikaela or Leo hearing, I am proposing the idea that Bumblebee can make it so that he can talk to someone without the others hearing. Think of it as Bumblebee in holoform, invisible, sitting beside you and whispering in your ear.**

**If you're wondering about Simmons and Galloway. Well, there just having the time of their lives together in Skids. And Lennox 'forgot' to give them a walkie-talkie, so they can't complain about it. (Though, knowing Simmons, he's probably already knocked Galloway out with his tazer.)**

**I foreshadowed something! Though it has nothing to do with this fic. Can anyone tell me what it is? (I love asking questions just to make sure you guys are paying attention.)**

**Another question. Can anyone give me a list of Decepticons? Please and thank-you!**

**Reviews earn you things. Cyber-cookies, cupcakes, plushies, a Camero…So review please! I'm a sucker for feedback. Thank-you!**


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